A California hate crimes sentence enhancement, under Penal Code 422.75, does not mean that a conviction carries more than a one-year potential sentence, even after it was reduced to a misdemeanor, because once the court reduces the offense from a felony to a misdemeanor, under Penal Code 17(b), and declares it to be a misdemeanor, then by definition it cannot carry a sentence of more than a year. Penal Code 19. The 422.75 enhancement by its terms only applies to felonies. Once the conviction has been reduced to a misdemeanor, the sentence enhancement no longer applies. Thanks to Chris Gauger.