Hawaii lost out on $17 million in federal funds over the past five years after federal agencies undercounted the number of Compact of Free Association citizens residing in Hawaii in 2013 and 2018.

The funds should have gone to support health care benefits, education programs, public transportation and other services for COFA residents, according to Hawaii’s congressional delegation, which is pressuring the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of the Interior to explain what happened and come up with a fair repayment plan.

Federal officials briefed the delegation on the problems last month and have promised to compensate Hawaii for the lost funding over the next three years. However, in doing so the Interior Department plans to take the funds out of future payments to Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which were as a result overpaid.

Hawaii’s congressional delegation says that isn’t fair and that those jurisdictions should be able to keep the overpayments.

“These errors placed inequitable burdens on Hawaii, undercutting the state’s ability to provide important services to its residents as well as COFA citizens living in Hawaii,” the delegation wrote in a letter to congressional leaders who have the ability to authorize COFA-related funding. “Any solution to this problem should ensure that Hawaii receive its fair allocation of mandatory assistance without harming the other affected jurisdictions. Neither Hawaii nor any of the other affected jurisdictions were responsible for the mistakes made.”

The funds were misallocated between fiscal years 2015 and 2020.

In 2013, federal officials counted 14,700 COFA citizens in Hawaii, while their corrected count puts the number at 20,700. In 2018 they counted 16,680 COFA citizens, but they now say it was 23,761.

Federal officials said the miscount was due to a “programming error,” but Hawaii’s delegation is asking that federal officials provide a better explanation of what happened, according to a separate letter sent to the heads of the Census Bureau and Interior Department.

Officials with the Interior Department did not respond to a request to comment.

The U.S. government entered into an agreement in 1986 with the Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of Marshall Islands, and later the Republic of Palau, collectively known as the Compact of Free Association, as part of a compensation package for U.S. nuclear tests. Under the agreement, COFA citizens can live and work in the U.S. and receive public education, health serv­ices and other benefits. A 2003 amendment to the agreement requires that the federal government set aside $30 million to be disbursed annually among Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to help defray the costs of providing services to COFA citizens.