Pennsylvania’s revenue secretary must appear before the Senate on Tuesday or risk jail time.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s revenue secretary is preparing for a rare showdown in the Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday that could potentially land him in jail.

Revenue Secretary Pat Brown failed in his efforts to get the state Supreme Court to block an attempt by Senate Republicans to force him to appear before the House and explain his reasons for withholding tax records for an Allentown revitalization program that the House subpoenaed him for.

“I’m glad the legal games are over and look forward to answers,” said Sen. Jarrett Coleman, a Lehigh County Republican who chairs the Senate committee that issued the subpoena.

“Unfortunately, the department has repeatedly wasted taxpayer resources by bringing unnecessary lawsuits that attempt to undermine the Senate’s ability to provide legislative oversight.”

An attempt Monday to reach Brown or Shapiro’s office for comment was unsuccessful.

Brown said he is not legally allowed to release tax data, while Republican senators argue that their request for the data is a permitted exception to privacy laws.

The High Court ruled on Brown’s appeal on Monday, upholding the Commonwealth Court’s decision.

Later that day, the Senate voted along party lines to adopt temporary rules establishing a procedure for questioning Brown or his attorney about tax revenues funneled into the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone since its inception in 2011.

Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County called the Republican attempt to force Brown to appear before the chamber “unnecessary.” It’s inappropriate and we shouldn’t do it.”

Majority Leader Joe Pittman, D-Indiana, said that while it is rare, the House is following the same procedure last used in 1974 in the House when it called a Pennsylvania State Police trooper before them.

“This is a process that we approach very methodically. We follow precedent (and have) the right and responsibility to review the programs we create from time to time,” Pittman said.

Brown, a longtime Republican state senator who represented Allentown until losing a 2022 primary battle to Coleman, authored legislation to create the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone.

This one-of-a-kind revitalization program returns virtually all state tax revenue collected from businesses in the 128-acre zone to developers who built or renovated buildings within it to pay off construction debt. The program is designed for another 19 years.

Since its launch, more than $700 million has been returned to developers, according to the program’s annual reports.

These reports show total collections for seven tax categories, but combine total collections for at least nine other taxes that account for the lion’s share of tax revenues allocated to the program.

Last December, senators voted unanimously to have the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee conduct an audit of the program’s effectiveness. He failed to obtain the detailed tax data he said he needed to conduct the audit, leading to a subpoena before the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed a resolution on a party-line vote directing the sergeant-at-arms to bring Brown to the Senate within three days of the Senate meeting. Tuesday is the last of these three days.

The resolution goes on to say that if the House is not satisfied with Brown’s response, it may consider a separate resolution that would require only a simple majority to impeach him. He will then be sent to the Dauphin County Jail until Nov. 30, when the legislative session ends, or until he provides the tax records the Senate wants to see.

Ian Murphy can be contacted at: [email protected]. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.