Louisiana's general obligation bond rating took another hit Wednesday as S&P Global Ratings downgraded the state one notch to AA-minus from AA.
The rating outlook is negative, based largely on revenue woes.
"The rating action reflects our view of the state's persistently weak revenue collections stemming from prolonged contraction in the oil and gas industry coupled with weak individual and corporate income tax collections," S&P credit analyst Nora Wittstruck said
S&P also dropped Louisiana's long-term rating on state appropriation bonds one notch to A-plus from AA-minus. The Pelican State's long-term rating on moral obligation bonds was lowered one notch to A-minus from A.
Louisiana's new AA-minus S&P rating is in line with the Aa3 Moody's Investors Service rating and AA-minus score from Fitch Ratings, both affirmed this week ahead of a $189 million GO bond sale scheduled to sell competitively March 22.
Moody's assigns a negative outlook and Fitch a stable outlook.
Moody's downgraded Louisiana one notch in February 2016 as the state grappled with a combined $3 billion shortfall. Fitch downgraded the state in April 2016.
The Louisiana Legislature opted in February to close a $304 million mid-year budget gap by using reserves combined with other spending cuts.
"The credit rating agencies are echoing what I, and many in the legislature, have said for a long time – structural tax and budget reform is critically important for our state's future,' Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement Wednesday.
"There is a responsible way that we can reform our tax structure to make it fair and predictable for businesses and also bring in sufficient revenue to support the state services a vast majority of state legislators believes is important to maintain for their constituents," he said.
