COLUMBIA - The S.C. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would tighten the state's drunken driving standards.

Under the bill, the legal blood-alcohol limit for drunken driving convictions would be lowered from the current 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. The bill moves to the full Senate for debate.

Gov. Mark Sanford supports changing the blood-alcohol standard. In his State of the State speech, Sanford called for passage of a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol standard. North Carolina's legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.08 percent.

Federal dollars also are on the line. The federal government is pushing the lower level by threatening to take away $60 million in federal highway money from South Carolina. The state already has lost $1.8 million in incentives by not going along with new federal standards for drunken driving standards.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said he doesn't appreciate the federal government threatening states with money.

"This is not a public policy," Ford said. "We're being forced," to comply.

Ford, Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, and Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, voted against the measure.

"I resent the federal government jamming something down our throats," said McConnell, who is chairman of the committee.

Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said there has been public support for the bill. The state's outdated highway system also needs the federal dollars, he said.

"My thinking is we can't afford to pass up federal dollars," Martin said.

The federal funding will be withheld beginning in October, Martin said.

If the state doesn't comply by 2007, the money will be completely withdrawn, he said.