Bar wins again in smoking-ban fight
State legislators kill bill; Orio’s can continue to allow cigarettes


March 21, 2007
By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - Rob and Heidi Orio came to Denver ready for a fight. They didn't expect the other side to surrender.

The Legislature on Tuesday killed a bill to tighten the cigar-bar exemption in the state smoking ban, a bill that was inspired by the Orios' legal fight with District Attorney Craig Westberg.

The Senate sponsor, Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, said she didn't have enough votes to pass the bill, and she asked members of the Senate State Affairs Committee to kill it. They obliged.

"I guess this means people can still come in and enjoy a cigarette," Heidi Orio said, minutes after the surprise move.

She and Rob own Orio's Roadhouse in downtown Durango. When the state smoking ban took effect in July 2006, they claimed an exemption as a cigar bar. It touched off a court battle, and a judge ruled in the Orios' favor in January.

Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, introduced the bill to clarify the law for district attorneys. Under her bill, almost all bars in the state would have been covered under the smoking ban, including Orio's.

"While I'm glad the Orios are happy with the result, I think it really hasn't served the state of Colorado," Roberts said.

More bar owners and prosecutors will be snagged by confusion about the law, she said.

Westberg called the bill's demise a "travesty."

"Ellen Roberts' bill was a laudable and sensible approach to fix that defect in the prior legislation, and I just don't understand why it met its fate (Tuesday)," Westberg said.

The smoking ban allows an exemption for bars that make 5 percent of their revenue on tobacco sales and humidor rentals.

Humidors are used in high-end cigar bars. Orio's doesn't have one, and Westberg argued that a humidor is necessary for the cigar-bar exemption. District Court Judge David Dickinson disagreed.

Roberts' bill clearly stated that a humidor would be necessary for the exemption.

She won House passage of the bill 35-29 last week, with votes from Democrats and Republicans. But support fell apart in the Senate.

The legislative battle became emotional at times.

"I think she's representing the representative that was before her," Heidi Orio said Tuesday, referring to retired Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, who championed the smoking ban for years and testified in court against an exemption for Orio's.



Roberts disagreed.

"It wasn't about Mark Larson and his passion on the issue," she said. "It was my concern that district attorneys spend their time on real crime."

The bill gave the Orios their first experience with the Legislature.

They brought their 3-year-old daughter, Matrix, and 2-year-old son, Deegan, to the hearing Tuesday.

"It's for our business. And our business is our life, and our life is our family," Heidi Orio said.

Another smoking bill, which would extend the ban to Front Range casinos, has bogged down after opponents added a clause to prevent it from taking effect unless all other exemptions are deleted.

The 2006 smoking ban has exemptions for cigar bars, international airport lounges, casinos, nursing homes and private limousines.

Boyd said the fight isn't over.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised next year to see some bills to eliminate all of the exemptions," she said.

The Orios will be there.

"Now we have a year of calm seas before the storm begins again," Heidi Orio said.

"And we'll be here next year," Rob Orio added. "We will be here next year."

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