On Sunday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the “Yes Means Yes” bill into law. The law forces public and private universities that receive money from the state to adopt a policy of requiring affirmative consent from students engaged in sexual activity. New York state should follow this lead and lawmakers should create similar legislation.

The law was designed to remove any doubt about what constitutes consent. Silence or lack of protest does not mean consent, and anyone who is drugged, drunk, asleep or unconscious is not capable of giving consent. Instead of just having to say no, the law requires that California students clearly say yes.

According to the Campus Sexual Assault Study, one in five women on college campuses will be or has been sexually assaulted during her time at college. This is not a statistic unique to California. New York should work to pass this law to help lower that statistic, and to legally defend victims who are unsure if they said no, but know they did not say yes.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding sexual assault on campus, but this law actually does something to combat the problem. Changing conversation into action is an essential part of the campaign to end sexual assault on college campuses. But it should not end here. The “Yes Means Yes” law should extend past universities and apply to all situations regarding rape and sexual assault.

One out of every six women and one out every 33 men has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Sexual assault is not exclusive to college students. Limiting the scope of this law to college campuses fails to address other sexual assault victims. Passing the “Yes Means Yes” law is great start to a policy that should extend to every single case of sexual assault.

Sexual assault is a problem that must move beyond conversation and into legislation. And the legislation should not stop in California. New York should be the next state to pass a “Yes Means Yes” law, but should ensure that its legislation applies beyond college campuses.