Legislature overrides boat veto

RALEIGH -- The legislature this morning overrode Gov. Mike Easley's veto of a bill to allow wide boats on the state's roads.

The votes in the House and Senate, which followed brief debate, made history as Easley's veto is the first to be overridden. The House vote was 95-8. The Senate vote was 39-0.

The legislature originally approved the bill earlier this year with little debate. It allows boats as wide as 10 feet on state roads by day and as wide as 9.5 feet at night.

Easley vetoed the measure this month, saying it posed a safety danger. The legislature returned to Raleigh today to respond to the veto. The session ended about 43 minutes after it started.

Afterward, Easley issued a statement saying lawmakers would be responsible for any harm that comes from wide boats on the roads.

"I have done what I thought was right to protect the safety of the public on our highways," Easley said through a spokesman. "It will be the members of the General Assembly who will have on their hands the consequences of this law. I hope and pray no one gets hurt."

Earlier today, Senate leader Marc Basnight said that wide boats have been on state roads with few problems.The current law requires permits to tow the wide boats, though the law was not always enforced.

"If there is no problem, I see no reason for government to participate in creating a problem, and to potentially damage the boat building industry is wrong," Basnight said.

Rep. Arthur Williams, the Beaufort County Democrat who sponsored the wide boat bill, said this morning that the legislation made sense.

"I think this bill stands on its own merit and the people have spoken out," Williams said

Sen. Ed Jones, a retired state trooper was the only legislator in either chamber to speak in favor of the veto.

"I felt like today the governor saw a mistake that we made by voting for this," said Jones, a Halifax County Democrat.

Rep. Hugh Holliman, the House majority leader, and Franklin Freeman, a senior adviser to Easley, met briefly this morning before the session started. When Freeman emerged, Holliman said there would be no compromise with the governor.

"We've talked and talked," Holliman said.

Holliman said Easley's office wanted to further limit the width of boats that could be hauled on the state's roadways and prohibit the boats from being hauled at night.