California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that defines what "yes" means in order to assist investigators with college campus sexual assault cases, Associated Press reports.

SB967 flips the old adage "no means no" on its head, turning it into the more affirmative "yes means yes." The bill defines consent thusly:

An affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.

The report states that consent can be nonverbal cues, like nodding the head or moving in closer, but the new bill would explicitly rule out silence or lack of resistance as meaning "yes." The hope here among lawmakers and sexual assault advocates is that the bill will bring a new "consistency" to how cases are handled across the nation.

The bill's other requirements are stated as specialty training for faculty so they will not ask "inappropriate questions" of the victims, as well as health care and counseling for the victim.

Although no Senate Republican opposed the bill, some questioned the state's involvement as being an "appropriate venue to define sexual consent between two people," as the AP report states. Other critics are mentioned as warning of "murky legal waters" that may lie ahead for colleges.