Weekly News from Leader McCombie

July 28, 2025

CRIMINAL LAW

Rep. Weber Denounces SAFE-T Act Following ICE Arrest Linked to Megan Bos’ Death

Following the arrest of Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in connection with the death of Antioch resident Megan Bos, I gave the following statement.

My statemen on the incident: “The tragic death of Megan Bos is every parent’s nightmare—and it was preventable. An illegal immigrant, accused of hiding her body in a storage container, was released under the SAFE-T Act. Let that sink in. Illinois Democrats made this possible by stripping judges of their discretion and tying the hands of law enforcement. Megan didn’t get justice from our laws—she got discarded. If it weren’t for ICE, this man would still be walking free. That should outrage every Illinoisan. We need to repeal the SAFE-T Act before more innocent lives are lost to politics and failed policies.”

Mendoza-Gonzalez, a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally, was initially charged with concealing a death, abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice. Despite the disturbing nature of the charges, under Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, he did not qualify for detention and was released without cash bail.

Mendoza-Gonzalez was recently detained by ICE after months of living free in the Chicagoland area. His arrest came just three days after Megan’s mother, Jennifer Bos, shared her story directly with President Trump, who responded with “watch what happens.”

Read more about it here.

FAIR MAPS & REDISTRICTING

House Republicans Blast Pritzker’s Fake Outrage Over Gerrymandering

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker once again waded into national politics this week when he discussed a possible mid-decade redistricting of congressional maps to counteract Texas and other Republican states.

Gov. Pritzker stated: “We have to see what they decide to do about Texas… I think we ought to play by the rules,” but acknowledged “counterbalance” might be necessary. “I think cheating the way the president wants to is improper. We all ought to stand up against it. People ought to be outraged.”

In response to Governor JB Pritzker’s comments today regarding potential mid-decade redistricting of congressional maps to counteract Texas and other Republican states, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie released the following statement:

“It’s rich that the Governor now claims to support playing by the rules—after he enthusiastically signed into law the most gerrymandered maps in the nation. When it was convenient, he promised to reject partisan maps in favor of fair representation. Illinois Republicans remain committed to fairness and transparency.”

The Governor continued to double down on his misstep later in the week by gathering lawmakers from Texas for a media roundtable event in Chicago. To that, I had the following response:

“Today, Democrats from Texas are in Chicago for a roundtable with JB Pritzker to complain about ‘Republican gerrymandering’—yet they’re sitting with the guy who signed one of the most extreme gerrymandered maps in the country. A map so bad, it was challenged by the NAACP and MALDEF and ranked worst in America. Apparently, they don’t think gerrymandering is wrong, they just want to be as good at it as Illinois’ own Governor.

“While they’re virtue-signaling about healthcare and food assistance, let’s be clear on the facts:

  • Governor JB Pritzker refused to verify citizenship for SNAP benefits, which pulls resources away from Illinois families in need.
  • Governor JB Pritzker spent billions on Medicaid for illegal immigrants, while legal residents are paying for them and seeing increases in their own bills.

“This roundtable isn’t about justice—it’s about political theater.”

ENERGY COST CRISIS

PJM announces big hike in summer electric bills 

The price hike, from $269.92 per megawatt-day to $329.17 per megawatt-day, is the “capacity price” that applies to electricity distributors throughout the PJM grid area, which stretch westward from Pennsylvania to the ComEd territory of northern Illinois. The capacity price is a supplement that is tacked onto overall electrical supply prices. It posts the price that the owners of generating plants can ask for when they feed electricity into the PJM grid on hot summer days. Every electricity distributor, including ComEd, tacks the capacity price onto the electric bills that they charge to customers.  

This significant PJM increase, which will begin to affect consumer bills in summer 2026, will be added onto the major increase in capacity price-related billings already being paid by consumers in summer 2025. The increase reflects PJM’s need to have electricity on hand at all times, including power for data centers and other power-hungry industrial locations, and the matchup of this need with current U.S. electrical generating capacity in the eastern United States. 

The soaring capacity pricing numbers posted by PJM for northern Illinois match current spikes in capacity pricing as they apply to electrical distributors enrolled in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). This grid operator, which is separate from PJM, covers most of the electricity distribution needs of central and southern Illinois, including the territories served by Ameren. Like customers of PJM, MISO’s customers will see soaring electric bills in summer 2025 and summer 2026. The current MISO capacity price is $666.50 per megawatt-day. 

“Illinois families are facing higher electric bills because of reckless energy policy coming out of Springfield. Shutting down reliable energy sources has driven up capacity costs and made us dependent instead of energy independent. We need an all-of-the-above strategy that puts affordability and reliability first.” – Leader Tony McCombie, Illinois House Republican Leader

TAXES

Illinois property taxes rank highest in U.S.

After years of ranking No. 2 to New Jersey, the latest data shows Illinoisans paid the highest property taxes in the nation during 2023. Worse, Illinoisans also pay steep income and sales taxes.

Illinois homeowners paid an average effective property tax rate of 1.83%, the highest in the nation. On a median-priced home of $250,500, that amounts to $4,584 per year. Neighboring states had significantly lower rates, making the idea of finding a home outside of Illinois appealing.

“Since my first term, Democrats have launched one property tax task force after another—with zero results. Meanwhile, Illinois now ranks worst in the nation for property taxes. To make matters worse, they just cut $50 million from the budget that was supposed to help those struggling to pay. Illinoisans are being taxed out of their homes while Democrats keep holding press conferences instead of taking action.” – Leader Tony McCombie, Illinois House Republican Leader

Read more from the Illinois Policy Institute.

FAIR TIME!

The 89TH District has 7 county fairs. Our team was at the Stephenson County Fair and I am scheduled to stop by the Ogle County Fair on July 31st at 4pm and the Carroll County Fair on August 9th at 4pm.