COLUMBIA - Declaring that illegal immigrants cost the state too much money, a South Carolina lawmaker on Thursday proposed denying them access to some hospital care and shutting them out of public schools.

State Rep. Mike Pitts said his proposal, quickly criticized by immigrant advocates and the state's hospitals, should be passed even if it violates federal laws. Washington, Pitts said, isn't doing "anything to attempt to solve this problem."

"We have a big problem in this country," he said. "Illegals are taxing the local tax base and eating up the resources."

The proposal is the latest state effort at tackling illegal immigration as reform efforts idle in Congress. Last year, lawmakers introduced roughly 650 bills targeting immigrants, with 32 states enacting 84 immigration laws involving everything from college tuition to driver's licenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

About 1,200 immigration bills have been introduced across the nation this year, said Dirk Hegen, a policy associate with the group. A Texas proposal would bar the babies of illegal immigrants from receiving state benefits such as food stamps, health care or public housing.

The sweeping South Carolina bill would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving care for nonlife-threatening conditions, enrolling in public schools and receiving any taxpayer-funded benefit, including retirement and disability.

South Carolina already prevents illegal immigrants from receiving most public benefits, such as welfare and food stamps.

A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling says public schools can't turn illegal immigrants away, and federal law requires hospitals treat anyone who comes into an emergency room, regardless of whether they can pay.

Allan Stalvey, vice president of the South Carolina Hospital Association, said physicians don't want to become immigration officers by default, nor can they immediately determine whether an illness is life-threatening.

Pitts hopes the bill will pass, but acknowledges legislators will make changes.

"I realize and fully understand that immigration is supposed to be the purview of the federal government," Pitts said. "But I don't see the federal government doing anything to attempt to solve this problem for the future."