The California Legislature has had plenty of time to figure out how to swiftly provide relief to Californians struggling with the high cost of gasoline. Connecticut did it. Georgia did it. Maryland did it. New York will suspend that state’s gas tax from June 1 through the end of the year. Why is it so hard for California to do the same?

Now, California is set to miss one deadline critical to offering drivers gas tax relief.

Under current state law, the gas tax has a built-in annual inflation adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index, with the adjusted tax increase kicking in on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed halting that increase in his budget proposal months ago and lawmakers have known they needed to approve legislation to make that happen by May 1.

Well, it’s April 28, and even that hasn’t happened yet.

“It is clear now that the Legislature will not act in time to provide that immediate, limited relief,” Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in a statement, according to Politico. “But we look forward to working with lawmakers on the governor’s proposal for direct payments to Californians wrestling with rising prices.”

The Legislature has had months to act, but has failed to take action to provide relief to working Californian who —  and this may be a shock to our millionaire, out-of-touch governor — don’t drive Teslas.

It was one month ago that Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, was invited to present his proposal to suspend the gas tax before an Assembly committee, only to have it gutted and amended by the Democrats with a substitute bill calling for a tax increase on oil companies.

Time aftertime, the Legislature, run by a supermajority of Democrats in both chambers, has failed to take seriously the needs of California’s drivers.

They have dragged their feet on providing immediate relief in favor of increasingly convoluted plans, including calls for providing money to transit systems that few people actually want to ride or find useful.

Then there’s the governor’s plan, which calls for direct payments of unstated value to drivers who meet unspecified conditions at some point in the future, to be distributed by a vendor of Newsom’s choosing.

Even the basic idea of cutting checks is evidently too complicated for the governor and the Legislature to figure out in a timely manner. The state’s slow, clunky approach to high gas prices is representative of how the state’s leaders handle every problem. Using a budget surplus they like to brag about, which is money from taxpayers, to help provide relief to taxpayers is apparently just too hard for them to figure out.