California voters Tuesday embraced a first of its kind ballot measure that allows app-based transportation and delivery drivers to remain classified as independent contractors, despite a state law known as AB5 that went into effect in January and says otherwise.

Companies Uber and Lyft, as well as DoorDash, Uber’s Postmates, and Instacart, all at the center of a $200 million plus push for an exemption to the law, can celebrate a victory that’s expected to save the gig economy firms from major costs of doing business in the state.

The ballot measure was among the last-ditch scenarios under which the companies would be allowed to keep their workers classified as independent contractors. A California appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling last month mandating that the workers be reclassified as employees based on AB5.

As written the new law applies to all app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery companies. Drivers will remain classified as “independent contractors,” not “employees,” unless the company sets drivers’ hours, requires acceptance of specific ride or delivery requests, or restricts working for other companies.

The new law does not however apply to any other business or trade within what is generically known as the gig economy.

Proposition 22 does have some benefits for workers: The ballot measure entitles the gig-based transportation workers to some benefits typically not available to independent contractors.

Though the workers remain independent contractors in name, allowing the companies to avoid paying payroll taxes and providing full legal protections typically available to employees, workers will become eligible for limited employee-style benefits including a minimum wage for certain working hours equal to 120% of the state’s $13 per hour minimum (going up to $14 in 2021).

Workers will also be given health care stipends to spend toward private employer-provided healthcare insurance, in addition to $1 million in insurance coverage to cover on the job accidents and illness, as well as lost wages.

Prop 22 would be difficult to undo. A change to the law would require a seven-eighths majority in the California legislature.

Results of California’s initiative have been billed as likely to have a ripple effect beyond the gig economy, and across state lines. Rebecca Henderson, CEO, Global Businesses and Executive Board Member at talent solutions company Randstad, says she is working closely with companies, who are reassessing the health benefits or sick leave they provide to independent contractors, as they look to maintain workers in a rapidly changing environment.