State Sen. Clark Jenkins, the primary sponsor of a bill that would allow wider boats and longer, heavier trucks on North Carolina highways, is an owner of a marina near Nags Head that claims on its Web site to be the fastest-growing new fishing marina in the state.

Jenkins, a Tarboro Democrat, said he didn't disclose his interest in Broad Creek Fishing Center & Marina when he shepherded his bill through two Senate committees because it wasn't necessary.

"I don't have a conflict of interest, in my opinion," Jenkins said in an interview Tuesday. He said that's because the entire sportfishing industry would benefit from his bill, not just his marina.

He also said he had consulted with an attorney who works for the General Assembly who told him he had no conflict.

"My understanding ... is that unless it directly affects you and affects you only -- if it affects the industry as a whole, then it's not a conflict," Jenkins said.

Sen. Marc Basnight, president pro tem of the Senate, said he agrees with Jenkins and added: "I don't see how it benefits him. It benefits the person pulling the boat."

The bill's progress

Jenkins' bill sailed through the Senate last week 47-0 and is scheduled to be heard at 11 a.m. today by the House Committee on Transportation. The legislation would eliminate the need for a permit to pull a boat-trailer combination that's between 8.5 and 10 feet wide, and would drop a prohibition against pulling one on Sundays and holidays, when beach traffic is heavier.

State law says that no legislator shall participate in a legislative action if they conclude "that an actual economic interest does exist which would impair the legislator's independence of judgment." It also says that it's OK if the benefit to that legislator is no greater than the benefit to owners of other similar businesses.

Jenkins did not vote on his bill when the Senate approved it last week. He said he was out of town on business.

His bill also benefits cotton farmers by allowing heavier axle weights on trucks hauling cotton from fields, and would allow heavier logging trucks on secondary roads.

Jenkins has not hidden his financial interest in boating or farming.

In his Statement of Economic Interest, filed March 10 with the N.C. State Ethics Commission, he reported that he and his wife were general partners in W.S. Clark Farms. He also reported that he was a member of two boat-related limited liability companies, Broad Creek Marina and Bluewater Outer Banks Yacht Service. Both of those companies are located in the Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park on Roanoke Island, a state-owned facility.

In past years, W.S. Clark Farms was paid federal commodity subsidies of several hundred thousand dollars a year, mostly for cotton, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers reported by the Environmental Working Group, a nonpartisan environmental research and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

The senator said he quit farming at the end of 2006, and that his only involvement now is renting out a couple of hundred acres of farmland.

Basnight connection

Jenkins, who is in his third two-year term, is a political ally of Basnight, a Manteo Democrat. A "seafood social" for Basnight was conducted at Jenkins' marina in December, but Jenkins said he wasn't a host.

Pictures of Basnight, Gov. Mike Easley and other guests are posted on the marina's Web site. A Basnight spokesman said Basnight throws a party like that every two years and invites the whole community. Some people do bring checks, he said.

Easley has not taken a public position on Jenkins' bill, a spokesman said Tuesday. But officials of two agencies under the governor's control have voiced their opposition.

State Highway Patrol officials say that longer trucks and wider boats on the highways would endanger other motorists.

DOT Secretary Lyndo Tippett said in an interview Tuesday that he also opposed the bill, agreeing with the patrol on the danger issue. Tippett also said it would be "ludicrous" to allow heavier logging trucks to use fragile secondary roads, as the bill would permit.

(Researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.)