Prop Slip-Up Prompts Bill

The recent discovery that documents used as props for the TV drama “Crossing Jordan” contained personal information about some show employees has prompted an assemblywoman to prepare a bill aimed at preventing such unauthorized use.

The proposed bill by Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance, would require businesses to create safeguards “to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal information,” according to a statement released Tuesday.

Wiggins’ staff maintains the bill will help prevent incidents like the one on the set of the NBC program. The documents, which were purchased from a Glendale prop company, were from a previous NBC production. They contained employees’ Social Security numbers, home addresses and phone numbers and, in some cases, medical histories.

Other documents used as set dressing on “Crossing Jordan” included the personal information of other Southern California residents. Some of the information appeared to have been discarded by various businesses, including medical, legal and tax-preparation offices.

“This is the kind of very personal and sensitive information [that] can slip into the hands of people who then can steal your identity and credit and ruin you financially,” Wiggins said in the statement.

The companies that supply prop documents to Hollywood productions get them from a variety of sources. Mark Ringelberg, vice president of LCW Props, which supplied “Crossing Jordan” with documents, said his company gets its documents from such sources as recycling companies and failed businesses.

Margaret Gladstein, the Assembly committee’s chief consultant, said the bill would target not just papers used as props, but all documents with potentially sensitive information that are maintained by companies. She noted that the release of many banking and medical records was prohibited by state and federal laws.

NBC officials said they were investigating how the records ended up on the “Crossing Jordan” set.