Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, has just signed a historic bill making the state the first to define when "yes means yes" during sexual assault investigations. The bill defines an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity, and will allow colleges to adopt requirements to follow when investigating sexual assault reports.

Democratic Los Angeles Senator Kevin de Leon first introduced the bill as a result of the pressure states and universities have recently encountered to change how they handle rape allegations. This past Sunday, de Leon stated, "Every student deserves a learning environment that is safe and healthy...the state of California will not allow schools to sweep rape cases under the rug. We've shifted the conversation regarding sexual assault to one of prevention, justice, and healing."

According to The Guardian, lack of resistance does not constitute consent. Furthermore, someone who is drunk, drugged, unconscious, or asleep cannot grant consent. Consent can be nonverbal, and examples include a nod of the head or moving closer to the person making sexual advances.

To be more specific, the law states, "Affirmative consent means affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that he or she has the affirmative consent of the other or others to engage in the sexual activity.

Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time. The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed to be an indicator of consent."

Now that consent has been defined, are advocates for victims of sexual assault supporting the change? It seems so. Savannah Badalich, a student at UCLA and the founder of the group "7,000 in Solidarity," stated, "This is amazing... It's going to educate an entire new generation of students on what consent is and what consent is not... that the absence of a no is not a yes."