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AUGUSTA — A proposal to hold a statewide referendum about changing the state flag survived a last-minute attempt to block it in the Maine House Tuesday, in part because of uncertainty about what a new flag would look like.

The effort passed by a two-vote margin and was sent back to the Senate, where it will have to compete for funding before being sent to the governor for a signature. Gov. Janet Mills hasn’t taken a public stance on the bill.

Republicans led the last-minute opposition, with some arguing that the current state flag’s blue field was chosen in honor of Maine soldiers who fought in the Civil War under the blue flag of the Union army. The field also is meant to reflect the same color in the American Flag, they said.

And they said it was too soon to send the question to a statewide referendum when no final design has been chosen for the new flag. The new version would be based the official written description of Maine’s original state flag, but that leaves a lot of room for artistic interpretation.

Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Springvale, asked which specific shades of blue and green would be chosen for the flag, while Rep. Richard Campbell, R-Orrington, fixated on the specific design of the pine tree.

“What are they voting on?” Campbell said. “Are they voting on a process? Are they voting on a spikey tree, or a fluffy tree? How are they going to know how to vote?”

Lawmakers have been debating changing the state flag for the past several years, but those efforts have failed to gain traction. Last week, the House voted to approve the concept for a new flag by a two-vote margin after a 90-minute debate and then later approved the Senate’s version, requiring a state referendum.

The bill, L.D. 86, sponsored by Rep. Sean Paulus, D-Bath, would ask voters if they want to restore Maine’s first flag, which was adopted in 1901 and used until 1909. The design features a pine tree with a blue star in the left corner on a white field.

It would replace the current flag featuring the state seal, with a moose resting under a pine tree flanked by a farmer and seaman on a blue field. It was designed by a joint legislative committee.

Since the House first voted in support of the old flag, a public debate has erupted over which design is closest to the original, which described the flag as tan with “a pine tree proper in the center and the polar star (a mullet of five points), in blue in the upper corner.”

What’s often described as the “original” 1901 design, which appears on T-shirts and hats and other Maine-themed souvenirs, features a stylized image of a pine tree and was actually created just five years ago by the Maine Flag Co. in Portland. The original 1901 version, historians say, has a more lifelike tree with three curving roots at its center.

Historians say this was the original design of the 1901 Maine state flag

Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, said she received an email Monday night from a local business, Maine Stitching Specialties, that manufactures and sells a version of the original flag with a more realistic looking pine tree and was worried about impacts to sales if the competing design is selected for the official flag. She said 12 people are currently employed making and selling their version of the 1901 flag online and in retail stores in Rangeley and Kingfield.

“We’re hearing from various people, including business owners, that this could have a negative impact on them,” Poirier said. “We need to slow this down.”

The bill would charge Secretary of State Shenna Bellows with choosing the final design of the flag, including the image of the pine tree.

BIPARTISAN DESIGN EFFORT

Paulhus told fellow House members that Bellows would work with a bipartisan coalition to draft a design that meets the requirements of the bill, which was taken from the description of the original 1901 flag.

“People will know what they’re voting on,” he said. “There will be an image, a design, whatever you want to call it, for people to see and look at and decide on.”

A spokesperson for the secretary of state said the advisory committee would include lawmakers from both parties, as well as experts in vexillology – the study of flags – and related fields.

Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, D-South Portland, said she likes the design of the 1901 flag but decided Tuesday that she couldn’t support getting rid of the current flag because of its connection to the Civil War. She said her great, great grandfather died in the Civil War, and she was named after his widow.

“I cannot in all good conscience not remember that today and not voice my (support) for the current flag, and I thank you all who have helped me see that today,” Reckitt said.

The House narrowly approved the referendum bill, 72-70. It faces a final votes in the Senate and, if passed, could then be considered for funding.

A fiscal note attached to a standalone bill calling for a statewide referendum on the flag states that the budget could accommodate “one ballot of average length” for the general election, but that the referendum could cost an additional $172,000 if a second page was needed because of the number or length of the ballot questions.

If the bill goes to the special appropriations table, it will compete with more than a hundred other bills for precious little implementation funding. Each year, some bills passed by the Legislature effectively die on the appropriations table for lack of funding. If approved and funded – and signed by the governor – it would appear on the November ballot.