FROM INDIANA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

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.

The bill 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.

Democratic Senator Shelli Yoder voted against the bill.

Another Democratic senator questioned whether people who regularly visit the home should have background checks.

Republican Senator Liz Brown says that’s unreasonable.

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