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PHOENIX — A state Senate panel agreed Wednesday to enact laws to attack mortgage fraud, though several members questioned whether the changes will do anything at all.

Senate Bill 1221 would spell out that it is a crime to knowingly make or use false statements that end up being used by someone in the process of getting a mortgage. Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Institutions, said the new laws are necessary to curb some increasingly frequent patterns of fraud.

She particularly cited situations in which a buyer gives a seller more than a home is worth, with the proviso — not reported to the bank — that some of that money be given back to the buyer. She said that defrauds the bank that loaned money based on the property's perceived value.

The measure passed the Senate Commerce Committee on a 6-1 vote.

But the whole proposal did not sit well with Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem.

"Getting cash back as a buyer doesn't make you a criminal," she said. And Gorman was particularly unhappy with the penalties.

A violation of the law is a class 4 felony, with a potential 2 1/2 year prison term. That is the same as the penalty for negligent homicide.

Those who engage in a pattern of fraud could be charged with class 2 felonies, the same as someone who commits manslaughter, with the possibility of five years in state prison.

Gorman also said everything this legislation would criminalize already is illegal.

"We're not going to say it's illegal, because it already is," she said. "We're going to say it's really, really illegal, which I don't think is a useful exercise for this body."

Rotellini conceded as much but said the new statutes would make it simpler to prosecute those who break the laws. And Rotellini, who has worked at the Attorney General's Office, said overworked prosecutors are more likely to pursue the cases in which they are most likely to get convictions.

But Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park, said it appears the real reason few people are charged is that neither Rotellini's agency nor the Attorney General's Office has the funds to investigate and prosecute.

"So we're going to have another law with no resources on it," said Blendu, who voted against the measure.

"All the laws in the world mean nothing unless there's enforcement."

If nothing else, Blendu said, there needs to be better regulation of appraisers, as they are the key to all types of fraud.

Rotellini said that is true in circumstances other than cash-to-buyer arrangements. For example, she said another type of fraud involves a series of "straw man'' transactions in which the value of a home is artificially pumped up, at least as reflected in the sales price.

But Rotellini said other types of fraud occur because a borrower provides incorrect information about income or a lending officer purposely inflates that income to help secure a larger loan than the person would otherwise be eligible to get.

Rotellini said these scams have victims other than lenders. She said people who buy legitimately in areas filled with homes with artificially jacked-up prices not only pay more than they should but could find values plummeting when other buyers default and lenders find out that more is owed on the property than it is worth.