CENTENNIAL - S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'AA-' long-term rating to the State of Colorado's approximately $70 million Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) headquarters facilities lease purchase agreement certificates of participation (COPs), series 2016. At the same time, we affirmed our 'AA' issuer credit rating (ICR) on the state, our 'AA-' long-term rating on the state's lease and COPs debt outstanding, and 'A' long-term rating on the state's moral obligation debt outstanding. The outlook is stable. The state will use proceeds to finance the purchase of land upon which the Denver headquarters of CDOT will be located, finance the acquisition, construction, and improvement of the headquarters, fund capitalized interest on the series 2016 COPs, and pay costs of issuance. "The 'AA-' rating on the series 2016 COPs reflects what we view as the State of Colorado's general creditworthiness as obligor, commitment to budgeting and appropriating for appropriation-backed debt, and absolute and unconditional obligation to pay purchase installments, subject only to annual appropriation under the conditional purchase agreement," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Nora Wittstruck. The stable outlook on the state appropriation-secured debt rating reflects that on our ICR on Colorado. The stable outlook on the ICR reflects our view that we will not change the rating over the two-year outlook horizon. Certain terms used in this report, particularly certain adjectives used to express our view on rating relevant factors, have specific meanings ascribed to them in our criteria, and should therefore be read in conjunction with such criteria. Please see Ratings Criteria at www.standardandpoors.com for further information. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect at www.globalcreditportal.com and at www.spcapitaliq.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on the S&P Global Ratings' public website at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column.