Maine could be asked to vote on a referendum next year requiring state lawmakers to come up with a plan to provide publicly funded health care for all residents.

Supporters of the proposal have filed paperwork with the state for a citizens’ initiative and have been issued petitions from the Maine Department of the Secretary of State to start gathering signatures. They will need to gather 67,682 signatures from registered Maine voters by Feb. 2 in order to qualify for the 2026 ballot, though signatures could still be gathered to qualify for the following year.

“I really believe health care is a human right and after my time in the Legislature, I’ve seen how sometimes things can get muddied up,” said state Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, the lead petitioner on the effort. “I think bringing this citizens’ initiative forward would be a really strong message to the Legislature that Maine people believe health care is a human right, as well, and want the Legislature to do something about it.”

The proposal comes as lawmakers at the federal level are in a standoff over an extension of enhanced health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. That is expected to lead to steep premium increases and could cause many people to lose coverage.

The citizens’ initiative comes in the form of a resolve that would direct Maine lawmakers to establish a system ensuring that all residents “possess comprehensive, publicly funded health care coverage, contains built-in mechanisms to lower the costs of health care” and “continues the existing practice of providing health care services through public and private providers.”

It also calls for residents to be able to continue to have the freedom to choose their health care providers and would establish a new board to supervise elements of the new system. The system would be developed by lawmakers in committee, with a directive in the proposal that they report out a bill to implement to the full Legislature by 2028.

Lookner acknowledged that the development of such a system will be complex, which is why he said the proposal is intentionally simple, with many details being left up to lawmakers. At the same time, he said proposals for broader health care access have been difficult for lawmakers to pass on their own.

“In my time in the Legislature, I’ve seen how these sorts of efforts get muddied by lobbyists with the deepest pockets and sort of the loudest megaphones, and that gets people nervous about their reelection campaigns,” Lookner said.

He said the costs of the legislation would depend on what lawmakers end up approving, but he believes it’s something many Mainers would support, especially if they could end up paying less in tax dollars than what they currently pay for private insurance through their employers.

The health care proposal is among a handful of citizens’ initiatives that could be on next year’s ballot, but the only one for which petitions have been issued so far. A different group is pushing for a referendum that would bar transgender students from sports teams and private spaces that align with their gender identities.

They have been given a draft of their proposed law by the secretary of state’s office and are expected to be able to start collecting signatures by early next week.

Paperwork for a third citizens’ initiative related to cannabis laws has also been submitted to the secretary of state’s office, but the proposed legislation is still being finalized, a spokesperson for the office said Wednesday.