Impeachment proceedings that began and ended last fall against a Schuylkill County commissioner accused of sexual improprieties have resumed.

The state House Judicial Committee on Friday voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to resume the investigation into allegations concerning George F. Halcovage Jr.

The next step is for the House to vote on the measure, which is scheduled for today.

If the House agrees the investigation should resume, it then moves to its Subcommittee on Courts.

That panel would review the information gathered last fall by the original impeachment committee, and study any new evidence.

The subcommittee will return its determination to the Judiciary Committee within nine months of the resolution’s adoption, or, if an extension is needed, by the end of this year’s legislative session in November at the latest.

From there, if impeachment is deemed warranted, the matter would move to the Senate for a trial.

Should Halcovage be impeached - a rare occurrence and the only way to involuntarily unseat an elected official - the impact on his pension and other benefits is unclear.

Requests for clarification to the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania were not immediately answered on Monday.

Elected officials convicted of or pleading guilty to crimes lose the parts of their pensions paid by the taxpayers, but can keep their own contributions, minus interest, according to state law.

Why impeachment?

Halcovage lost his bid for a fourth term in office in the May Primary Election.

So, why continue with an impeachment investigation?

Resolution for all involved, says state Rep. Tim Twardzik, R-Schuylkill, who, sponsored the resolution to resume the investigation.

Twardzik was joined in sponsoring the measure by fellow Schuylkill County Republican state representatives Joanne Stehr, Jamie Barton and Dane Watro.

“We need to finish what we started,” he said. “The victims haven’t had their resolution and he hasn’t been able to clear him his name, if that’s the resolution. We’re serious about holding the rules for elected officials.”

Twardzik said he’s “happy Judiciary Committee Chairman Tim Briggs was able to get it resumed, and that it was done by 21-0 vote.”

“This is the only solution we have to remove an elected official. A lot of the work was done, we just didn’t have time to finish. The amendment to the resolution established a time frame, and puts a limit on it,” he said.

“Impeachment is a rare process; you don’t want to make it easy to remove an elected official. But the victims and the accused need to have this finished,” Twardzik said.

State Sen. David G. Argall, R-Carbon/Schuylkill, who spearheaded the start of the impeachment process, said “I’m pleased to see that the process in the House is finally moving forward again.”

Last fall’s investigation began hearing testimony on Sept. 19 and ended on Nov. 30, the end of last year’s legislative session. That Subcommittee on Courts heard testimony, gathered evidence, and voted 5-1 to send a criminal referral to the state Office of the Attorney General. That office did not take action on the referral.

The subcommittee did not release details of the referral, only that it was based on testimony and evidence gathered during its investigation.

The sole nay vote was by former state Rep. Michael Zabel, D-Delaware County, who resigned in March after being accused of sexual harassment.

Halcovage accusations

Halcovage is accused of sexually harassing four women who work in the courthouse, beginning in 2012, when he was first elected.

The women filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Scranton, in March 2021 against Halcovage and the county, as well as some employees. An addition to the suit was filed in October 2021, accusing him and others of discriminating against them and retaliating against two of them for filing the suit, which continues to wend its way through the court system.

They were demoted, and accused of misusing county software to perform unauthorized searches.

The alleged unauthorized searches may have compromised the sensitive information of some 9,146 people, commissioners said. That led them to spend $277,894 last December to hire Experian to notify each of those people. The county also offered each person up to two years of credit monitoring.

Commissioners twice attempted to fire them, but with Halcovage abstaining and Commissioner Gary J. Hess opposed, Commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington was the sole vote in favor of the terminations.

The two women were suspended without pay in September 2021 while an investigation into the alleged unauthorized searches was conducted. The results of that investigation, by Harrisburg law firm Eckert Seamans, were never released to the public.

In March 2022, the women were approved for 26 weeks of unemployment compensation, but have yet to be able to return to work.