Say Goodbye to Rat Poison and Glue Traps in Colorado

The Bottom Line

This legislation would effectively ban the most common rat poisons and glue traps across Colorado to protect kids, pets, and wildlife from accidental poisoning. Unless there's an officially declared public health emergency, you and your pest control provider will have to rely on mechanical traps, sealing up buildings, and non-toxic methods to handle rodent problems.

What This Bill Actually Does

If you have ever dealt with a mouse in the garage or rats near a dumpster, you are likely familiar with the black bait boxes or sticky glue boards used to catch them. This legislation fundamentally rewrites the rules of rodent control in Colorado by strictly prohibiting the sale, distribution, and use of most commercial chemical rodenticides and glue traps. Specifically, it targets:

• First- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) (poisons that prevent blood clotting)
• Bromethalin (a powerful neurotoxin with no known antidote)
• Zinc phosphide
• All rodent glue traps

The legislation does not just ask politely; it makes selling or using these products a deceptive trade practice. The only way these chemicals can be deployed is if a state or local health board officially declares a public health emergency. Even with that rare declaration, the guardrails are incredibly strict. Only licensed professionals can apply the bait, the application must be strictly indoors, and it cannot be used for "routine preventive, maintenance, or permanent baiting." Professionals are limited to a maximum application window of 42 days (two 21-day cycles), and all bait must be removed shortly after the rodent activity ceases.

To replace these chemicals, the bill mandates a transition to Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This is a science-based approach that legally requires professionals to prioritize non-chemical solutions before ever considering a poison. Under the new rules, pest control operators must verify an infestation using electronic monitors, identify the specific species, and attempt to resolve the issue through sanitation, mechanical traps, and exclusion (sealing up a building's entry points). If a professional eventually seeks an exemption to use chemicals during an emergency, they must provide a detailed "written rationale" with photographic evidence proving that non-toxic methods failed.

What It Means for You

For the average Colorado resident, this bill shifts how you will manage your property and protect your family. First and foremost, you will no longer be able to run to the local hardware store or order a bucket of poison bait or a pack of glue traps online. Those products will disappear from consumer shelves entirely. If you are a parent or pet owner, this is a massive safety upgrade. The bill points out that between 2019 and 2023, children under the age of five accounted for 70% of the thousands of national poisonings involving anticoagulant rodenticides. Removing these products drastically lowers the risk of your toddler or dog accidentally ingesting something lethal.

On the practical side, handling an infestation will require more elbow grease or a bigger budget. Because cheap, "set it and forget it" chemical baits are off the table, you will need to focus heavily on exclusion and sanitation. This means spending a weekend sealing up cracks in your foundation with steel wool, fixing damaged weather stripping, and meticulously storing food in airtight containers. If you decide to hire a pest control professional, expect their service to look very different. Because they are legally required to use Integrated Pest Management techniques, their visits will likely involve deep inspections, structural repair recommendations, and the placement of electronic or mechanical traps. Consequently, professional pest control services may cost more upfront due to the labor-intensive nature of these methods.

You may also notice a broader environmental impact in your community. A major driver of this legislation is the protection of Colorado's wildlife—specifically birds of prey, foxes, coyotes, and mountain lions. These predators naturally keep rodent populations in check, but they often die from secondary poisoning when they eat a mouse that has ingested toxic bait. By removing these chemicals from the food chain, local ecosystems should become healthier and more balanced. It is a fundamental trade-off: managing rodents becomes a bit more labor-intensive, but your home and the surrounding natural environment become significantly safer.

What It Means for Your Business

If you operate a business in Colorado, this legislation requires a hard look at your facility maintenance and pest management contracts. For pest control companies and hardware retailers, the impact is immediate and structural. Retailers must pull all targeted rodenticides and glue traps from their shelves and online storefronts. Continuing to sell them is classified as a deceptive trade practice, which carries a staggering civil penalty of up to $20,000 per violation. For pest management professionals, your standard operating procedures must be completely rewritten. Routine, permanent chemical baiting around the perimeter of client properties—a staple of the industry—is strictly prohibited. Your technicians will be legally bound to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, logging exactly what mechanical or exclusionary steps were taken to solve the problem without chemicals.

For restaurants, property managers, agricultural operations, and real estate developers, the operational landscape shifts significantly. You can no longer rely on inexpensive chemical bait stations to keep health inspectors happy. Your facilities and maintenance teams will need to invest in permanent structural exclusion, prioritizing:

• Installing heavy-duty door sweeps and weather stripping
• Repairing masonry and foundational cracks
• Sealing pipe penetrations and HVAC vents
• Maintaining rigorous, documented sanitation standards

Pest control vendors will likely shift to using electronic rodent monitoring devices—high-tech traps that record time-stamped rodent activity—which could change the cost structure of your monthly service agreements.

Even in a worst-case scenario where a local board of health declares a public health emergency—the only trigger that allows temporary use of these chemicals—the compliance hurdles for your business and your vendors are incredibly steep. The use is strictly limited to indoor applications for no more than 42 days. Property owners must post visible signage declaring "Rodenticides In Use For Public Health Emergency," which could impact customer perception if you run a retail or dining establishment. Furthermore, your pest control vendor must maintain meticulous written work orders and photographic evidence proving that non-chemical methods failed. It is highly advisable to audit your current pest control contracts and facilities maintenance plans to ensure they align with heavy exclusion and mechanical trapping.

Follow the Money

The financial footprint of this bill on state coffers is surprisingly light, though it shifts significant operational costs to local governments and private businesses. According to the fiscal note, the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) will experience a minimal workload increase to adopt the new rules by January 1, 2027, and designate these products as restricted-use pesticides. Similarly, the Department of Law and the Judicial Department might see a slight bump in caseloads related to deceptive trade practice violations, but these are expected to be handled within existing departmental budgets. The state could actually see a minor bump in revenue from civil penalties—up to $20,000 per violation—and court filing fees if bad actors refuse to pull products from shelves.

Where the real money moves is at the operational level for both public and private entities. Municipalities, state parks, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Transportation will have to absorb the hidden costs of transitioning away from cheap chemical rodenticides. Upgrading public facilities with better weather-sealing, repairing structural vulnerabilities, and utilizing labor-intensive mechanical trapping programs will require local governments and state agencies to quietly stretch their existing maintenance budgets.

Where This Bill Stands

SB26-062 is currently Dead. The latest official action came on 04/20/2026: House Committee on Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Postpone Indefinitely.

That means the bill is no longer advancing this session. In practice, measures that are postponed indefinitely or otherwise declared lost generally stay dead unless they are reintroduced in a future session.