SC Passes Bill To Create Statewide Plan To Address Alzheimer’s Disease

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina lawmakers took a crucial step in the fight against Alzheimer’s. The General Assembly passed a bill that creates a statewide plan to address Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.

Governor Henry McMaster signed that bill into law Wednesday. It requires the advisory council for the Department on Aging’s Alzheimer’s Resource Coordination Center to maintain and update a comprehensive statewide plan. The council must submit an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly by September 30, outlining the plan’s progress. The council must update the plan in 2028 and then every five years after.

“This was such an easy bill to get behind, and just do proud of everyone of my fellow house colleagues for getting behind this bill, coming together realizing this is a non-partisan issue,” says South Carolina republican Rep. Mark Smith.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 95,000 people living with Alzheimer’s in South Carolina. The Department of Health and Environmental Control says the disease is the 5th leading cause of death in the state.