(CNN) Rep. Chris Lee has a 2-year-old niece.

If recent climate reports about Hawaii are true, the Democratic legislator said, after she finishes high school, she may not be able to lie in the sun on Waikiki Beach the way generations before her could.

Waikiki Beach, Oahu Island, Hawaii, United States of America.

For six years, Lee has been chairman of the state's Energy & Environmental Protection Committee, where he helped earn the state a reputation as a model for how to bridge the political divide and deal with climate change.

He's co-sponsor of a bill that responds to a 2017 Hawaii Climate Commission report that argues Oahu's famed beaches at Waikiki are in danger of being underwater in the next 15-20 years due to rising sea levels.

A new bill would help protect Waikiki and Honolulu

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