When 'yes' means 'yes': California governor signs sex consent bill
Adopting law defining when 'yes means yes' to change how sexual assault claims probed
California governor Jerry Brown announced that he has signed a bill that making the state the first in the US to define when "yes means yes" and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports.
State lawmakers last month approved the measure, which comes at a time when states and universities across the US are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations.
Campus sexual assault victims and women's advocacy groups delivered petitions to Brown's office on September 16 urging him to sign the bill.
Los Angeles senator Kevin de Leon, who introduced the bill, has said the legislation will begin a paradigm shift in how college campuses in California prevent and investigate sexual assaults.
Rather than using the refrain "no means no", the definition of consent under the bill requires "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity".
"With one in five women on college campuses experiencing sexual assault, it is high time the conversation regarding sexual assault be shifted to one of prevention, justice, and healing," de Leon said in lobbying Brown for his signature.