California 'yes means yes' signed into law by governor

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state's closely watched "yes means yes" campus sexual assault standard into law Sunday.

The legislation, approved by state lawmakers Thursday, will require colleges and universities to adopt an unambiguous threshold for "affirmative consent" for student engaging in sexual activity.

Senate Bill 967, sponsored by state Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, comes as awareness of on-campus assaults has risen and as the White House has begun its own star-studded effort to decrease both incidence of assaults and improve the reporting and disciplinary process.

"As the father of a young college-age daughter, I was stunned, I was quite surprised when I read the statistic that 20 percent of young women have been sexually assaulted on a college campus," de León said last month. "These are our daughters, they are our sisters, they are our nieces."

Brown signed the measure without additional comment, along with a number of other bills.