A veto threat prompted the Senate on Tuesday to change a House bill that would let fishermen and other recreational boaters haul 10-foot-wide boats and trailers down narrow state roads at night.

The amended version, scheduled for a final Senate vote today, would trim the maximum width to 9 1/2 feet at night and 10 feet during the day.

Franklin Freeman, a top Easley adviser, warned last week that allowing wider boats at night would cause more crashes and deaths. He said Tuesday that the governor wants legislators to keep the nighttime limit at its current mark, 8 1/2 feet.

"I think the governor hoped he could get out of this session without having to veto anything," Freeman said. "It would be a shame to put him in that position. ... We've gone from 18 inches to 12 inches, but there's still a foot missing."

House backs ethics bill

The House passed a bill Tuesday requiring ethics opinions to be issued on a more timely basis.

Under the legislation, the N.C. State Ethics Commission would be required to publish advisory opinions on ethical issues within 30 days of being issued. Currently, they are published once a year.

State Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said that change would help other legislators to learn from the problems of their colleagues.

It would "speed up the process so that we can all understand what our obligations are, which is hard to do until we have the full opinion issued," he said.

The House approved the bill in a 109-1 vote. It now heads to the Senate.