Pa. Senate Republicans threaten Shapiro cabinet member with prison in dispute over release of tax data

By Ford Turner / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette /

Using a threat of imprisonment, Republicans who control the state Senate on Monday advanced a measure to compel a former high-ranking colleague — state Revenue Secretary Pat Browne — to appear before them to answer questions about a special tax zone in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Mr. Browne, now part of the Democratic administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro, met the threat from his former colleagues Monday afternoon with a lawsuit filed in Commonwealth Court.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated move, a Senate committee advanced a bill that would give the state attorney general oversight responsibilities in health care system mergers and consolidations.

Until late 2022, Mr. Browne was the Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. One of his crowning achievements was writing the law that created the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone, which sparked a number of development projects in that city.

On Monday, the Senate Rules & Executive Nominations Committee approved in a party-line vote a resolution that threatens Mr. Browne with a contempt finding and possible imprisonment if he does not turn over a full breakdown of “NIZ” tax information. That same information was sought in a subpoena issued to Mr. Browne in July at the behest of the Senate’s Intergovernmental Operations committee.

In an August letter, Mr. Browne acknowledged the subpoena but said the Revenue Department was precluded by law from releasing some of the information sought.

“The department must continue to follow the law,” Mr. Browne wrote.

The Intergovernmental Operations chairman, Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh, on Monday told Rules committee members the full breakdown of tax information was needed so the Legislature could evaluate the NIZ.

Mr. Browne and the Revenue Department, he said, have only provided “aggregate” totals that lump together some of the tax categories. Mr. Browne’s “continued refusal to provide the information necessary to conduct legislative oversight and evaluation of a program established by the General Assembly” made the resolution necessary, Mr. Coleman said.

He got support from Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, who said senators have followed “a thoughtful, methodical process” in seeking the information. The point of the resolution, Mr. Pittman said, is to have Mr. Browne come to the Senate and explain why he cannot turn it over.

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, backed Mr. Browne and said the secretary was “statutorily prohibited” from releasing the information. He noted that the confidentiality provision protecting the information “came directly from the Legislature.”

A spokesperson for Senate Republicans said it was possible the full Senate could vote on the resolution on Tuesday.

Mr. Browne responded with a suit that named Mr. Pittman, Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward of Westmoreland County, Mr. Coleman, and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Max Bartlebaugh. The resolution, should it be passed by the full Senate, directs the Sergeant-at-Arms to bring Mr. Browne before the Senate “within three legislative days.” 

In the suit, Mr. Browne claims the Senate leaders have no authority to compel him to break the law. He said he already turned over all the information “except that which is rendered confidential by law.”

Mr. Browne said he is in an “untenable position” in which he risks incarceration if he discloses the information; and, if he maintains the confidentiality of the information “he risks incarceration without trial at the command of the Senate.”

He asked the court to rule that neither the subpoena or the Legislature’s rules can compel him to disclose confidential information; to block the Senate leaders from seeking to compel him to do so; and enjoin them from declaring him in contempt or having him taken into custody.

In unrelated action Monday, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced a bill to give the state attorney general oversight when hospital or provider network mergers are proposed.

The bill already passed the House but was amended Monday in the Senate committee, so even if it is approved by the full Senate, the changed version also will need House approval.

“There are so many communities that have been challenged with their hospitals closing or being downsized,” said committee chair Sen. Michele Brooks, R-Mercer. “It leaves care where people have to drive 45 minutes to an hour.”

Among other things, the bill would require that the attorney general be notified of health system mergers; that a waiting period occur; that public hearings are a possibility; and, among other things, that the transaction be evaluated on whether it is in the interests of the public.

A lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. Lisa Borowski, D-Delaware, said putting the attorney general in an oversight position would give consideration to “patient care and the communities that are being served.”

Western Pennsylvania hospitals that are struggling financially include Sharon Regional Medical Center, which is poised to be acquired by Meadville Medical Center.