Voters rejected a controversial proposal to suspend California’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law Tuesday, showing their support for the state’s efforts to lead the nation in confronting climate change.

The measure, Proposition 23, would have suspended the state’s climate law until unemployment dropped below 5.5 percent for 12 months, which economic analysts said was not likely to happen for several years. Proponents called the measure a responsible response to the economic slowdown, while opponents painted it as a hostile and thinly veiled attempt by Texas oil companies to kill California’s progress on the issue.

Additionally, voters decided measures that would impact recent changes voters have made to California’s election process. Proposition 20, which would empower a citizens’ redistricting commission to oversee congressional districts, won, and Proposition 27, which would have eliminated the citizens’ commission, lost.

Prop. 23 was the most high-profile environmental measure on a ballot anywhere in the United States, and opponents included environmental groups from throughout the state and nation, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz.