Rep. Agema, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:
“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:
While I support binding arbitration, it needed the two amendments that I proposed to make this acceptable for local municipalities. Unions should have the right to binding arbitration within limits of the ability of the local government to pay. The arbitrator should also truly arbitrate and be allowed to pick between the last two best offers of the parties; thereby, drawing the two parties close together before binding arbitration is demanded.”