Pennsylvania Treasury Secretary Pat Browne filed an appeal Wednesday, asking the state Supreme Court to block the state Senate’s subpoena for testimony about Allentown’s economic development program.
Browne’s filing is the latest move in the dispute between Senate Republicans and Browne, a former Republican state senator who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro to oversee tax collections by the state Department of Revenue.
Brown created the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) while he was a legislator to benefit his former Senate district, which included part of the city’s struggling business district. The program allows developers to employ taxes collected from businesses on their properties to pay interest on retrofit loans.
State Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Lehigh), who ousted Browne in the 2022 primary contest, told the Capital-Star this week that he wants the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct an audit of the program to make sure that NIZ benefits the Lehigh Valley region as a whole, not just subsidizing developers in Allentown.
In July, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution ordering an audit and asking Browne for detailed tax information. Browne replied in the lawsuit on October 7 that the information sought by the Senate is confidential under the law that created the NIZ and that it could face criminal sanctions for disclosing it.
After Browne’s lawsuit was filed, Republican senators passed a resolution ordering the Senate sergeant-at-arms to bring Browne to the chamber to face contempt and imprisonment if he continued to refuse.
Browne’s Supreme Court appeal follows Tuesday’s ruling by the Commonwealth Court in the Browne case, which found that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to issue an order compelling Browne to turn over his tax records.
The Commonwealth Court found that the case was not ripe for judicial intervention because there was no confrontation between the parties. Senate Democrats filed separate lawsuits asking the court to block the Senate subpoena.
NIZ has committed more than $1 billion to recent investments in Allentown, according to authorities overseeing the program.
