South Carolina state Sen. Marlon Kimpson believes student-athletes at the University of South Carolina and Clemson University deserve a piece of the pie and he’s doing everything in his power to make sure that happens in 2015.

Reported this week by Jeff Hartsell of the Charleston Post and Courier, Kimpson, a Charleston Democrat, pre-filed a bill on Dec. 3 that, according to Hartsell, calls for state schools with athletic revenues of at least $50 million to pay a weekly stipend and to set up a trust fund to pay athletes who graduate under the condition a financial literacy course is taken.

“The (revenue) money has to go somewhere and it’s not going to reduce tuition,” Kimpson told the newspaper. “It’s being kept in the athletic programs, but it’s not being given to athletes. It’s going to the coaching staffs. I don’t have a problem with that, but it’s time to share some of these revenues with the players.”

Kimpson went on to argue about fairness and schools profiting off the likeness of star players, citing former South Carolina freshman All-American Marcus Lattimore and current Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson. Both players suffered major knee injuries — Lattimore twice — while playing and risked financial loss as a result.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has long been an advocate for paying players and believes they too should receive part of athletic department revenue.

He has even offered up his own money.

Three years ago, Spurrier came up with a simple solution to paying players without costing the university or SEC a single penny. He offered to donate a little under $300,000 of his annual salary so that each of his 70 players would get $300 per game.

In a 14-game season, the total extra-benefits would equal $294,000.

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Alabama’s Nick Saban, LSU’s Les Miles, Mississippi’s Houston Nutt, Tennessee’s Derek Dooley, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen and Florida’s Will Muschamp signed Spurrier’s proposal at the time.

“I just wish there was a way to give our players a piece of the pie,” Spurrier said in 2011. “It’s so huge right now. As you know, 50 years ago there wasn’t any kind of money and the players got full scholarships. Now, they’re still getting full scholarships and the money is in the millions. I don’t know how to get it done. Hopefully there’s a way to get our guys that play football a little piece of the pie.”