Glue Trap Prohibition Act: Bans, Exemptions, and Penalties

The Glue Trap Prohibition Act of 2024 (H.R. 7018) was introduced in Congress but never moved past committee, and it expired when the 118th Congress ended in January 2025. There is currently no federal ban on glue traps. Whether you can legally buy or set one depends entirely on your city, and only a small number of municipalities — nearly all in California — have enacted prohibitions so far.¹

What the Federal Bill Would Have Done

Representative Ted Lieu introduced H.R. 7018 on January 17, 2024. It proposed a nationwide prohibition on the sale and use of glue traps for trapping rodents.¹ Because the bill targeted rodent traps specifically, insect sticky cards and fly strips would have remained on the market under its terms.

The bill did not advance beyond introduction, and no publicly available evidence indicates it has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress. If you are searching for a federal rule to follow, there isn’t one. The controlling law is whatever your city or county has passed.

Cities Where Glue Traps Are Already Banned

As of early 2026, binding prohibitions exist only at the municipal level, and the enacted bans are clustered in California:

West Hollywood was the first city in California to ban the sale and use of glue traps, with the prohibition taking effect on May 31, 2024.²
Ojai adopted Ordinance No. 951 on March 12, 2024.³
Culver City’s ban took effect in late 2024, and its scope reaches adhesive traps used for insects as well as vertebrates.

No state has enacted a statewide ban. A few miles across a city line can be the difference between legal use and a fineable offense.

Bans That May Be Coming

Several jurisdictions are actively considering restrictions. San Francisco’s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted unanimously to recommend a citywide ban, though the Board of Supervisors has not yet passed a final ordinance.⁴ New York City has a pending bill, Int 1504-2025, that would prohibit the sale of glue traps.⁵

At the state level, New York’s S6314A would ban all adhesive-based animal traps statewide, including shipments into the state. The bill remained in committee during the 2023–2024 session and was not enacted.⁶ Its explicit reach over online retailers and interstate shipments is a signal of where future legislation may go.

What the Ordinances Actually Prohibit

The bans define glue traps by how they work, not by brand. San Francisco’s proposed ordinance defines a glue trap as any device designed to capture an animal by means of an adhesive or similar sticky substance.⁴ Most ordinances target two separate activities:

Selling, offering for sale, or displaying glue traps within city limits.
Setting, placing, or otherwise using a glue trap to capture or kill any animal, or permitting another person to do so.

Ojai’s ordinance follows this dual sale-and-use structure.³ Retailers cannot stock or display these products, and residents cannot deploy them at home or at a business. Simply possessing an unset trap may not violate the ordinance, but placing it where it could catch an animal does.

Are Insect Sticky Traps Covered?

This depends on the wording. H.R. 7018 targeted rodent traps and would have left insect monitors alone. Municipal bans vary. Culver City covers adhesive traps for insects as well as vertebrates. West Hollywood’s ban applies to any device used “to capture or kill any animal,” which could sweep in insect monitoring devices depending on how enforcement officials read the word “animal.”² Read your local ordinance before assuming an insect monitor is exempt.

Online Orders and Out-of-City Sellers

Current municipal bans focus on sales and use within city limits, which leaves a gray area for online purchases. A retailer outside a restricted city can ship a glue trap to a customer inside one, and enforcement against out-of-jurisdiction sellers is difficult. New York’s S6314A tried to close that gap by defining “retailer” to include internet sellers and by prohibiting all shipments of adhesive traps into the state.⁶ It has not been enacted.

Exemptions for Food Service and IPM

Some ordinances carve out narrow exceptions where non-toxic monitoring is necessary and chemical alternatives are restricted. Food processing plants and commercial kitchens sometimes rely on adhesive monitors as part of a formal Integrated Pest Management program, where the traps function as early-detection tools. Where these exemptions exist, they typically require daily inspection and immediate removal after any capture.

Not every ban includes a carve-out. Culver City’s ordinance reaches insect traps as well, leaving little room for adhesive-based monitoring of any kind. If you run a food service business in a jurisdiction with a ban, confirm the exemption language before assuming your existing pest control contract is compliant.

Penalties and Enforcement

Violations are treated as civil infractions or low-level misdemeanors rather than serious crimes. New York City’s proposed bill would impose a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation, with each product listing or stock-keeping unit offered for sale counting as a separate violation.⁵ A retailer stocking ten glue trap products could face separate penalties for each. West Hollywood’s general penalty code treats municipal code violations as misdemeanors punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.

Enforcement generally falls to local animal control or code compliance. A complaint (often anonymous) triggers an inspection, and a citation follows if the inspector confirms a violation. Arrests and court appearances are rare; the system relies on administrative fines.

Animal Cruelty Exposure Even Where Glue Traps Are Legal

The ordinances above are not the only law in play. Even in a jurisdiction with no glue trap ban, careless use can expose you to animal cruelty charges under general state law. Most states criminalize causing unnecessary suffering to an animal through neglect or intentional acts. Setting a glue trap and failing to check it, or leaving one deployed with a trapped animal, can fit within those statutes.

The risk climbs sharply if the trapped animal is a pet or protected wildlife rather than a target pest. Glue traps do not discriminate; birds, lizards, and kittens can end up on them. Legal commentators have argued that trapping a companion animal on a glue trap could support charges under aggravated cruelty statutes in states like New York, which carry felony-level penalties for causing serious injury or death to an animal through intentional or reckless conduct.

Even where glue traps remain legal, leaving one unchecked or accessible to non-target animals creates real exposure beyond a civil fine.

If You Already Have Glue Traps

If a ban takes effect in your area and you have traps deployed, remove them. Unused traps can go in your regular trash. If an animal is already stuck, the American Veterinary Medical Association classifies glue traps as not acceptable for euthanasia, so throwing away a trap with a live animal is both inhumane and, in a banned jurisdiction, potentially additional legal exposure.⁷ For wildlife or injured animals you cannot safely handle, contact local animal control or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

1
GovInfo. H.R. 7018 (IH) – Glue Trap Prohibition Act of 2024
2
City of West Hollywood, CA Municipal Code. Chapter 9.53 Use and Sale of Glue Traps
3
City of Ojai. Ordinance 951 – Use and Sale of Glue Traps
4
SF.gov. Proposed Ordinance for the City of San Francisco
5
The New York City Council. Int 1504-2025 Prohibiting the Sale of Glue Traps
6
New York State Senate. S6314A Prohibits the Production, Sale and Use of Adhesive-Based Animal Traps
7
AVMA. AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals 2020 Edition