A panel of state lawmakers examining whether Schuylkill County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. should be impeached for sexual misconduct still has work to do before making a decision.

“The subcommittee has issued additional subpoenas and is scheduling depositions. We plan to continue this important work in the coming months,” state Rep. Paul Schemel, R-Franklin County said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Schemel is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, which is tasked with determining the direction of Halcovage’s political fate.

Other members are state representatives Joshua D. Kail, Andrew Lewis, David H. Rowe, Joseph C. Hohenstein, and Michael Zabel.

The current legislative session adjourns on Nov. 30. Any unfinished business would be picked up again when it resumes on Jan. 3.

For Halcovage to be impeached, the House would have to vote to remove him from office, and a trial would then be held by the Senate.

Schemel in September said there is “adequate evidence” to move forward with the investigation.

Halcovage has denied the accusations against him.

The impeachment process began in January, when the subcommittee voted unanimously to begin an investigation.

In September, the subcommittee met to gather testimony. Halcovage was invited to participate, but declined.

Days after that session, the panel voted 5-1, with Zabel opposing, to send a criminal referral to the state Office of the Attorney General.

There’s been no word on what, if any, action that office would take.

The impeachment proceedings stem from accusations of sexual harassment made by four women who work in the courthouse. They contend the harassment began in 2012, when Halcovage took office.

The women, identified only as Jane Does, filed a federal lawsuit against Halcovage in March 2021 in U.S. District Court, Scranton.

The suit also alleges some county officials failed to stop the harassment and subsequent retribution against the women, including demoting, suspending, and trying to fire them, and helped try to cover it up.

Court proceedings for the suit are expected to continue at least through June 2023.

The allegations against Halcovage became public in 2020, when an investigation by the county Human Resources Department found that he violated the county’s sexual harassment, conduct and disciplinary action, and physical and verbal abuse policies.

The county sent the findings to the state Office of the Attorney General, which did not file criminal charges.