LOS ANGELES – Seeking to stop sexual violence before it happens, City Councilmembers Mike Bonin and Nury Martinez today called on the City of Los Angeles to formally support state legislation that would educate high school students about healthy relationships and affirmative consent (more commonly known as “yes means yes”) in health courses required for graduation.

The state legislation, Senate Bill 695, was authored by Senate President pro Tempore Kevin De Leon and Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson.

“We must do more to prevent sexual violence before it happens,” said Bonin. “Educating young people – especially young men – about healthy relationships and affirmative consent will help instigate the culture change we need to end sexual assault in our communities.

“Senators Jackson and De Leon have proposed thoughtful and important legislation and the City of Los Angeles should lend its considerable influence in Sacramento to ensure it gets approved,” Bonin added. “Future generations of children deserve no less.”

“In my first job, I educated my community about safe sexual practices that protected individuals from pregnancy and disease,” said Martinez. “Today our communities are recognizing the need to spread information about the threat of sexual violence in relationships. We need to teach our students at a young age about healthy sexual practices and affirmative consent before we see even more victims of rape and sexual violence. By instilling these values at a young age, we are preparing our children for their future and the many challenges and decisions they will have to make.”

Under Senate Bill 695, health courses, which are a condition of graduation for a majority of California high school students, will provide instruction on affirmative consent, sexual harassment, assault, violence, and the importance of developing positive, healthy relationships. The bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Education Committee on April 15, and is currently pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The bill’s co-author Senator Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, presented the bill to the Education committee, saying: “If we want to prevent sexual assault, it’s important that we start early. Last year, California led the nation in addressing sexual assault on our college and university campuses by passing SB 967, the ‘yes means yes’ bill. This bill represents the next step in our efforts to change behavior, by educating our high school students about affirmative consent. This bill will ensure that discussions about healthy relationships and consent are taking place in high school, with young men and women, so we can establish boundaries of acceptable behavior, give students the skills they may need to navigate difficult situations, and prevent sexual assault before it occurs.”

SB 695 was inspired by the first-in-the-nation “Yes Means Yes” Bill, SB 967, which requires college campuses to adopt consistent survivor-centered sexual assault response policies and protocols that follow best practices and professional standards for prevention, access to resources, and fair adjudication proceedings.