The decision to approve the pending merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable could prove to be divisive for California regulators.

Lawyers for groups fighting the merger told new site CTFN this week the vote may well split the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Paul Goodman, who is legal counsel for an advocacy group known as the Greenlining Institute, said he believes the vote won’t be one-sided and said the group is currently at a “tipping point” where the decision could fall one way or another.

The commission is set to vote on approving the transaction in May.

The CPUC’s vote will mark the second state decision on the merger. The first – an approval – came from New York regulators in January. New Jersey has yet to issue a decision.

The suggestion that California regulators may be on the fence about the merger comes on the heels of news that a coalition of non-profit groups last week delivered a petition with 300,000 signatures to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the agency to block the transaction.

According to the petition, the Charter-Time Warner Cable merger presents similar problems to those seen in Comcast’s failed bid for Time Warner Cable. Opponents argue the merger would create a “duopoly” of companies controlling a vast swath of the country, with negative impacts that would disproportionately affect predominantly black markets.