Improving services to Georgians with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia would be the job of a new state task force, under a bill passed Wednesday by the Senate.

Senate Bill 14 would empower the panel’s six members — including officials with the state Department of Human Services — to document trends of people living with progressive, irreversible neurological disorders, how they get treatment now and what could be done to improve their care.

The panel would get about a year to do its work. It would disband by March 31, 2014, and turn into an advisory council to monitor the state’s progress on its recommendations. 

SB 14, sponsored by Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, passed on a unanimous vote. It now goes to the House for consideration.