Mark Hamill has a new passion project. Hamill is working with Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang to combat the selling and profit of fake autographed memorabilia.
This new legislation, AB 1570, that the two have been working on would require certificates of authenticity for sign memorabilia that is being sold in California. If individuals try to sell fake memorabilia to consumers the fee would be 10 times the cost of the item.
Chang explained that she wanted to work on this project because of the passion that Hamill brought to their discussion, notes AceShowBiz.
"I got on the phone with [Mark] and it was very touching to see how passionate he was," Chang said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times. "What he said to me is that his fans are like family and that he did not want to see kids being victimized as he's seen in the past. It's such an honor to have him on board with us," explained Chang.
The Force Awakens star added that he thought that film fans should get the same protection that sport fans receive when it comes to purchasing autographed memorabilia.
"The public is being swindled on a daily basis and the numbers are huge. I just can't keep quiet when I see people I love being hurt," Hamill, who had been responding to fans with fake autographs on Twitter, told the Times. "But it's a drop in the ocean, there's not much you can do about it. In a way, it seems futile to try and counter what is clearly a very lucrative market. But we can't let them get away with it."
Hamill currently can be seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which has continued to break numerous box office records during its theatrical run.