COLUMBIA --- Prompted by fears of illegal immigration and a lack of jobs, one of South Carolina's most conservative counties has joined a wave of communities across the country considering laws to make English its official language.

Pickens County officials voted this week to require all business to be conducted in English except in an emergency. Another vote on the issue is slated for next month, and the requirement would become official if it passes.

The law would only apply to companies doing business with the county and would not affect hospitals, schools or courts, said county council Vice Chairman Ben Trotter.

"English is something that we speak," he said Wednesday. "If we went to Mexico ... you do not dial one for Spanish or two for English. You learn theirs or you're out in the cold. They don't bend over backwards for us."

The plan to make English the official language in Pickens County is just part of the ordinance. Touted as a plan to curb hiring of illegal immigrants, the ordinance also would not allow the county to employ anyone who cannot document that they can legally work in the U.S. It also require vendors working for the county to certify that they do not knowingly hire or employ unauthorized workers.

Much of the ordinance closely mirrors a state law passed earlier this year that requires all businesses to verify their new workers are in the U.S. legally or face civil fines of up to $1,000 per worker. Workers who lose jobs to illegal immigrants can sue their former employers under the new law.

But a bill that would have required all government paperwork and videos to use only English died in the state Legislature this year.

Thirty states and dozens of municipalities have laws requiring that government communications be conducted in English, according to U.S. English Inc., a group supporting a federal move to make English the nation's official language.