California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 499

(a) Any person who, having been convicted of a previous violation of Section 10851 of the Vehicle Code, or of subdivision (d) of Section 487, involving a vehicle or vessel, and having served a term therefor in any penal institution or having been imprisoned therein as a condition of probation for the offense, is subsequently convicted of a violation of Section 499b, involving a vehicle or vessel, is punishable for the subsequent offense by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or the state prison for 16 months, two, or three years.

(b) Any person convicted of a violation of Section 499b, who has been previously convicted under charges separately brought and tried two or more times of a violation of Section 499b, all such violations involving a vehicle or vessel, and who has been imprisoned therefore as a condition of probation or otherwise at least once, is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison for 16 months, two, or three years.

(c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1997.