A bill that allows unlicensed child care providers to serve more children for more hours each week easily advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday — even as Democrats express unease with the measure.

HB 1102 allows unlicensed, home-based providers to care for as many as seven children, up from five. And a change in the Senate committee ensures no more than three of them are less than a year old.

But those counts don’t include any children in their care who are relatives or their own children.

Sen. Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) voted against the bill.

“This makes me really uncomfortable expanding in this way without addressing the number of children that might be present in the home already from the parent,” Yoder said.

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Another Democratic senator, Sen. J.D. Ford (D-Indianapolis), questioned whether people who regularly visit the home should have background checks. Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) said that’s unreasonable.

“If you want to talk about government overreach, overregulation and increasing the costs — now, you think about that,” Brown said.

The bill passed 8-2 along party lines and now heads to the full Senate.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.