A Fishkill woman is overjoyed that President Joe Biden will sign a new bill into legislation that changes the way military sex crimes are handled.

The law called MIRA will allow victims of sex crimes, domestic violence and child abuse to report crimes outside of a service member’s chain of command.

Jenelle Mendez is a Marine who founded the military sexual trauma movement. She has pushed for numerous changes in the way sex crimes are reported and prosecuted in the military since launching her organization.

The MIRA law will also ensure military charges will be pursued and provides an automatic discharge for any service member found guilty of abuse.

On July 2, Mendez says she received a call from a Biden administration representative that the bill passed Congress and would be signed into law.

“I started crying. I literally - I broke down and called my dad. I’m going to cry right now because I went through this,” says Mendez. “It’s been such a struggle for me.”