Cuomo signs 'yes means yes' bill into law

ALBANY, N.Y., July 7 (UPI) -- Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed a sexual consent bill targeting public and private colleges into law Tuesday.

Dubbed the "Enough is Enough" legislation, Cuomo has been campaigning for this law since the beginning of 2015. With his signature, a statewide definition of affirmative consent that's also known as "yes means yes" is created, which Cuomo claims will acknowledge the fact that discrimination against women happens in New York.

The rules already applied to the state's public colleges, but with Cuomo's signature, private colleges must now follow them.

Besides defining affirmative consent, Cuomo's law will establish an amnesty policy for students that may otherwise refrain from reporting sexual assaults due to their fear of violating other college campus policies.

It also establishes a bill of rights for sexual violence victims, calls for retraining of faculty, staff and students, requires colleges to submit data on reported incidents and requires first responders to cases of sexual assault to notify survivors of their right to contact outside law enforcement, including state police, rather than campus police.

In addition, the new law sets aside $4.5 million for the State Police to create sexual assault victims unit, $4.5 million for rape crisis centers, and $1 million for colleges and universities.

These colleges will have 90 days to put the laws into effect and a year to gather statistics on related incidents and complaints.