Have not been following the legislative side of things closely, but am guessing this is probably a tactical move against what will surely be aggressive moves by ranchers to stop this wolf-in-California thing post haste.

IIUC one side-benefit of an established wolf population is a corresponding big drop in coyote populations, as they're direct competitors and, actual enemies. When you see the devastation done by Wildlife Services predator control contractors, you begin to wonder why we're spending all that money to "protect" federal grazing lands. Wolves might actually help things, but there's a cohort who don't even want us to find out.

Predator Control

A-wooo!