On September 19, the California Supreme Court held unanimously in Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo County Community College, that agencies—and not courts—must decide whether the "subsequent review" provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) must be applied for projects modified after the approval of an initial Environmental Impact Report (EIR) or Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND). Under CEQA's subsequent review provisions, when changes are proposed to a project for which an EIR or MND already has been approved, the agency must prepare a subsequent or supplemental environmental document only if the changes are "[s]ubstantial" and require "major revisions" of the previous EIR. Friends of the College resolved the question of who, in the first instance, decides whether the subsequent review provisions apply. The Court overruled prior case law in California that held that it is the courts that determine, in the first instance and as a matter of law, whether a project modification constitutes a "new project altogether" requiring recommencement of the CEQA process.