The Pennsylvania House resumed sessions Tuesday after its summer recess, but the matter of impeachment proceedings against Schuylkill County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. has yet to surface.

Impeachment proceedings began last year. Halcovage stands accused of sexual misconduct; four women who work in the courthouse in March 2021 filed a federal lawsuit against him, saying he sexually harassed them since taking office for the first time in 2012.

State Rep. Tim Twardzik, R-123, is one of the county’s legislative delegation who sponsored the initial resolution to reauthorize the investigation. It was passed by the House Judiciary Committee on July 7.

The other representatives sponsoring the resolution were Joanne Stehr, R-127, Jamie Barton, R-124, and Dane Watro, R-116.

Democratic House Speaker Joanna E. McClinton determines if and when the resolution is brought up to vote.

“We’re waiting for the Speaker to take interest in moving this along,” Twardzik said Wednesday.

He said a bipartisan effort is building to encourage McClinton to address the investigation.

“We’re waiting for this committee to move forward with the investigation,” Twardzik said. “Justice has yet to be done for the victims or for Commissioner Halcovage. “Most of the work has been done already.”

But a thorough investigation is absolutely necessary, he said.

“We don’t want to just rubber-stamp this,” he said.

Halcovage, a Republican, lost his bid for election to a fourth term in the primary election. Barring a successful write-in vote, he’ll be leaving office in about 14 weeks.

If the resolution, HR 44, is favored, the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts will relaunch the investigation.

The investigation should not take long, Twardzik said, because it will use evidence already gathered by the previous subcommittee.

After it gathers all the evidence, the subcommittee will report its findings to the Judiciary Committee. If the subcommittee recommends impeachment, the matter will be sent to the Senate for a trial.

The impeachment grew from a 2020 determination by the Schuylkill County Human Resources Department that Halcovage violated three county policies concerning sexual-harassment, conduct and disciplinary action, and physical and verbal abuse.

The women who filed the federal lawsuit are identified in it as Jane Does 1, 2, 3 and 4.

An addition to the suit was filed in October 2021, in which the women alleged they were retaliated and discriminated against for filing the first suit, and various county officials did nothing to stop it and covered it up.

Two of the women, identified as Tax Claim Director Angela Toomey and Assistant Tax Claim Director Denise McGinley-Gerchak, were in September 2021 demoted and suspended without pay for allegedly doing unauthorized searches using county software.

The county hired a Harrisburg law firm, Eckert Seamans, to conduct an investigation.

County officials have not released the results of that investigation.

Commissioners twice attempted to fire the women, but did not succeed. The women eventually were awarded 26 weeks of unemployment compensation.

The lawsuit continues to wind its way through U.S. District Court, Scranton, with U.S. District Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson presiding.