A team of historians has researched and decided how our state flag should look.

Now, it’s up to Lexington County Sen. Ronnie Cromer to shepherd it through the legislature next month.

The proposed design, filed by Sen. Cromer, isn’t likely to meet resistance.

State Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, says she plans to give the bill a hearing in the Senate Family and Veterans’ Services Committee.

She predicted it would coast to passage.

The flag will feature a white crescent and Palmetto tree against an indigo blue background.

In the upcoming 2021 session, lawmakers can approve details of the design.

Those have been in flux since the last official flag specifications were repealed in 1940.

They will consider the height and shape of the palmetto tree, the shade of indigo background and the thickness and angle of the crescent.

All have been left to the creative imagination of individual designers in lieu of specifications set out in state law.

That’s why the Palmetto tree design on your ballcap might look skinnier than the one on your beer koozie.

It’s why the crescent on the flag atop the Statehouse dome might point a different direction than the one on your front porch flag. Bu no more.

The team of history buffs empaneled by lawmakers in 2018 has studied the story of the flag, including its various shades and designs, and settled on a new model for the General Assembly to vote on.

Scott Malyerck is the political consultant who proposed standardizing the state flag and served on the design committee.

He told the Charleston Post and Courier that the design changed from its early roots in the Revolutionary War.

The group included historian Walter Edgar and Department of Archives and History Director Eric Emerson.

They based their selected shade of indigo — Pantone 282 C — on the color of the uniforms worn by Col. William Moultrie’s 2nd SC Regiment in the Revolutionary War.

They determined the shape of the crescent by studying the crescent badges that Moultrie’s soldiers wore on their caps.

The design committee couldn’t determine exactly why the regiment chose the crescent as its symbol, but they don’t believe it was meant to depict a moon, Malyerck said.

In early versions, the crescent’s tips were pointed directly upward, making it look unlike a crescent moon.

The Palmetto tree was added to the flag to honor Moultrie’s June 1776 defeat of 9 British warships that attacked his crudely made fort on Sullivan’s Island in an effort to invade Charleston.

“It’s an important symbol for our state and we ought to get it right,” Malyerck said.