First the good news: The state Senate last week passed the so-called “Granny Bill” – legislation to substantially increase penalties for physical assaults against the elderly.

The bill passed unanimously – meaning both Senate Republicans and Democrats supported it without dissent.

Now the bad news: The Granny Bill is effectively a dead letter – because one man, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, opposes it.

Silver won’t even let it come to the floor for debate – let alone a vote.

That prompted one Democrat, state Sen. Ruben Diaz of The Bronx, to issue what he called “an SOS” and plead with his Assembly colleagues to “take this bill as their own and to pass this bill.”

Good luck getting Assembly Democrats to buck their speaker – no matter how outrageous his position.

And forget about Silver personally explaining to either 101-year-old Rose Morat or 85-year-old Solange Elizee – who were both brutally beaten by the same vicious thug – why he’s ignoring their pleas to pass the bill.

A Silver spokeswoman claims the Senate bill “does nothing to further punish the perpetrators of these crimes.” Silver himself suggested that sentences for all assault charges be raised – a proposal he knows would never pass the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

But the Senate bill would make it an automatic felony to assault someone over the age of 70, with a minimum four-year prison term expanding to seven years if the victim suffers serious injuries.

It recognizes that elderly victims are themselves a different, more-likely-to-be-preyed-upon group – and that any assault against them has potentially more serious repercussions than an attack on a younger victim.

Yet once again, New York’s criminals have caught a break, courtesy of Sheldon Silver.

For shame.