Wednesday, March 21 Washington governor Jay Inslee signed a collection of laws aimed to protect women in the workplace as a response to the #metoo movement.

The hashtag “metoo” has spread virally across several social media platforms. First popularized by actress and activist Alyssa Milano, the phrase is meant to demonstrate how widespread the issue of sexual harassment truly is. The movement took off immediately and the phrase has since been posted millions of times.

“Seeing the response on twitter really showed the magnitude of the problem,” said Senior Marianna Mele.

This #metoo movement has already invoked change in the state of Washington. Governor Jay Inslee signed four bills meant to address the issues emphasized with the hashtag.

“We must do better to make sure employers understand there is no place for these behaviors in the workplace and provide tools to help them create a workplace that is safe and supportive of all workers,” said Inslee in an interview with the Seattle Times.

One of the bills addresses non-disclosure agreements among employees which prevents them from divulging sexual misconduct allegations. Under the bill these agreements would be banned. The second bill sanctions the Human Rights Committee to create and carry out policies to prevent sexual harassment within the workplace.

The third measure bans contracts within the workplace that may void an employee’s rights to file a sexual harassment case.  Finally, the fourth bill prohibits non-disclosure agreements from inhibiting investigators to assemble evidence and testimonies if a sexual-harassment case were to be filed.

“It is exciting to see lawmakers responding to movements for people’s protection,” said Junior Sadie Kenny.

All of the measures introduced by these bills will take effect in June of 2018.