PA State Reps Urge District Attorneys To Not Prosecute Citations Related To Governor Wolf's COVID-19 Emergency Orders

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf speaks about COVID-19 / Coronavirus
Photo credit The Office of Governor Tom Wolf

In a letter to Lindsay Vaughan, Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe is urging District Attorneys to not prosecute violations of Governor Wolf's Coronavirus emergency orders.

In mid-March, parts of Pennsylvania were put under stay-at-home orders in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and many businesses were ordered to temporarily close if they were not life-sustaining. By April 1st, the entire state was under the Governor's stay-at-home order. On May 8th, the north-central and northwest regions of the state moved to Wolf's yellow phase of his three color reopening plan. Many counties in Southwestern PA are set to move into yellow on Friday.

Metcalf says the governor's measures to reopen the state and businesses are too late and too slow. His letter to Vaughan reads:

"We write you today regarding Gov. Tom Wolf s unconstitutional and illegitimate attempts to close businesses and shut down our Commonwealth. We are calling on every district attorney throughout the Commonwealth to publicly commit to actively intervening to ensure that any citations issued under the governor's emergency declarations are withdrawn, including citations based on the governor's mandated business closures and stay-at-home order.
Taking this action will allow business owners to make their own decisions regarding reopening, or continuing to operate cautiously and safely, without having to be afraid of their government that is supposed to be serving them While Gov. Wolf may claim that he has begun to reopen the state, this effort has come far too late, and will not happen quickly enough for our citizens and businesses that are suffering immensely under his mandates."

Read Metcalf's full letter to Vauaghan here.

Metcalf wrote the letter on behalf of 25 State Representatives. Greene County District Attorney Dave Russo said, in an email to KDKA Radio, “This letter from our State Representatives is the support we need to open our state quickly, safely, and without further economic damage.”

___Listen to KDKA Radio on the RADIO.COM AppTell your smart speaker to "play News Radio 10 20 KDKA"Receive email updates from KDKA RadioFollow KDKA Radio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram