A New Jersey Assembly panel has endorsed legislation that would reduce the state’s drunken-driving threshold for motorists and put the state one step closer to preserving $72 million in federal highway dollars.

The bill would lower the state’s blood alcohol concentration limit from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. A682 would also establish a sliding-scale penalty system tied to blood alcohol concentration levels with fines up to $600 and license suspensions ranging from three months to a year.

The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee approved the measure by a 4-0 vote Dec. 11. It now heads to the full Assembly for consideration.

A 2000 federal law required each state’s legislature to adopt the 0.08 limit by Oct. 1, 2003, or lose 2 percent of its highway money. New Jersey is one of only five states – Colorado, Delaware, Minnesota and West Virginia being the others – to defy the federal mandate.

The Garden State’s previous refusal to adhere to the standard cost the state more than $7 million in highway dollars when lawmakers ignored the Oct. 1 deadline, the Home News Tribune reported. Next year, the loss would jump to $14 million, $21.5 million in 2005 and $28.7 million in 2006.

“There is no reason to wait to lower the limit when funding is vitally needed now,” bill sponsor Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, said in a statement.

States that adopt the new limit by Oct. 1, 2006, can recover the withheld funds.