U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono’s Compact Impact Fairness Act (CIFA), signed into law last week with the federal spending bill, has major implications for citizens of Compacts of Free Association (COFA) nations — the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau — who have wrongfully been blocked from access to federal benefits. CIFA restores COFA citizens’ eligibility for federal programs, unconscionably denied by the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.

Hawaii’s congressional delegation now urges the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve disaster aid for Lahaina fire survivors who are COFA citizens. That’s good news for the state, which faces up to $360 million in unexpected costs that FEMA has refused to pay.