It’s about time Assembly and Senate Democrats took action to end Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s broad executive authority.

What took them so long?

The back-room deal they’ve struck could have been passed anytime in the past several months.

Existing directives Cuomo has issued since last March will remain in effect for an additional 30 days after the legislative bills are passed. Extending or modifying them will require Cuomo to notify relevant Senate and Assembly committee chairs as well as the temporary president of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly. The governor will have to justify the need for the extension or modification and the threat to public health and safety and provide an opportunity to comment. The governor cannot extend actions beyond the first 30 days unless they explicitly relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. And, the governor convinced the legislature to drop the April 30 end of his executive powers, giving Cuomo the ability to administer his current executive orders until the federal COVID-19 emergency declaration ends.

That should have been the process anyway. There was no need for Cuomo to wield such enormous power without providing even cursory justification to the state Legislature. At best, the repeal bill that was passed gives the legislature the ability to terminate the disaster declaration if both houses can agree and then override a veto by Cuomo.

Disappointingly, the state Legislature could have taken this action months ago and chose not to. Unlike Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Wolf can veto legislative action to strip the governor’s executive power, New York Democrats could have taken this same action on Jan. 1 this year since they had a veto-proof majority in both houses of the legislature.

The three-month delay in acting indicates, to us, legislative Democrats were more than happy to let Cuomo take the lead — and the blame — for the state’s missteps in handling COVID-19 and the unhappiness that is welling up throughout the state. Say what you want about Cuomo –and we have said plenty– at least he stepped up to lead, unlike legislative Democrats who were more than happy to avoid tough decisions. Like true feckless politicians, they waited until the worst has passed to decide to take a half-measure that changes almost nothing. Current executive orders remain on the books. Executive authority remains for months. And, unless legislative leadership decides to show some backbone, the governor’s most onerous restrictions remain in place as long as he wants.

We hate to break it to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, but this is not how leadership works.