Sign Lavern’s Law, governor

Under the state Constitution, when the Legislature passes a bill and delivers it to the governor, he has 10 business days to sign or veto. Otherwise, it automatically becomes law. Thursday would mark the end of the 10-day period for Lavern’s Law, named for Lavern Wilkinson, who was killed by a cancer that Kings County Hospital failed to diagnose years earlier.

Before she died in 2013, Wilkinson tried to file a malpractice claim, but was locked out of court because the cruel current law says that a patient must act within 30 months of a medical error.

Lavern’s Law would instead start the clock from the time a patient learns of the medical error.

Praised by Cuomo, it was stalled for years because of baseless fears of the hospital lobby. It finally passed in June, and got to his desk on Dec. 29. As we mentioned, Thursday is day 10.

But, being Albany, there’s always an asterisk: If the 10-day period comes at the end of the calendar year, the governor gets an extra 20 days and, furthermore, reverses the onus.

If the gov neither signs nor vetoes, such a heldover bill dies. In other words, the governor can kill it without having to explain why.

Of 606 bills passed in 2017, 605 have been enacted or vetoed. All that remains is Lavern’s Law.

Cuomo has until Feb. 5, when the bill dies, to act. What is he waiting for?