One of the five California officials who will vote on Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable says the merger should be rejected.

In a proposed decision released today, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Commissioner Mike Florio recommended rejection of the merger. Florio and the other four commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter Tuesday, and could vote as early as May 7. (Correction: A CPUC official has told Ars that a vote cannot happen until at least May 21.)

The biggest decisions on the merger will come at the federal level from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice. However, states including California and New York can influence the merger's ultimate fate because they would have to approve license transfers from Time Warner Cable to Comcast.

A California administrative law judge in February recommended approving the merger, but with conditions that Comcast objects to. Florio wants the commission to reject it outright.

"The transaction is not in the public interest," Florio's proposed decision says. Florio's concerns include "potential lowering of quality of service and customer service standards to a lower common denominator, an increasing monoculture in the fixed broadband market in California, concerns about privacy, less competition in the special access market, and—most importantly—less competition in the broadband market, both the retail segment of that market and the segment that allows edge or content providers to reach retail subscribers."

The harms caused by the merger "cannot be fully mitigated" by imposing conditions upon it, Florio argues.

Comcast wants approval of the merger without many of the conditions proposed by the administrative law judge. We detailed Comcast's objections in this previous story.

UPDATE: Comcast has given Ars a statement saying, "We continue to believe the Administrative Law Judge’s decision, reached after months of briefings, analysis, and careful consideration, has properly recommended approval of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable-Charter transaction." (The merger includes a side deal with Charter.)

"The transaction is strongly in the public interest and will bring a number of benefits to affected Time Warner Cable and Charter customers throughout the State of California," including faster Internet speeds and Comcast's Internet Essentials program for low-income families, Comcast said. "We appreciate the strong support the transaction has received from many elected officials, school districts, and nonprofit community organizations throughout California. And, we remain confident this process will ultimately lead to approval of the transaction."