RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state Sen. Ralph Hise, a top Republican budget writer in the chamber, has tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesman for GOP senators said on Tuesday.

Hise, a Mitchell County Republican, tested positive on Sunday and has been isolating since, according to Pat Ryan, the spokesman.

Hise, 44, was last in the Legislative Building on Thursday, Ryan said, and has been talking to people with whom he had close contact.

Now in his sixth term, Hise is the deputy president pro tempore and a co-chairman of both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Redistricting and Elections Committee.

WRAL-TV first reported Hise’s positive case.

With Hise's case, at least six North Carolina General Assembly members have acknowledged publicly since last year that they tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a tally by The Associated Press.