State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, called to order the first meeting of the new House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight committee at the Minnesota Capitol on Monday morning.

“The mission of this committee is to ensure that taxpayer money is not going to the greedy but is going to serve the needy,” Robbins said.

As part of a power sharing agreement between the DFL and GOP, Republicans will have a majority of seats (5-3) on the committee and will hold the chair role.

Republicans said the committee will focus on fraud, waste and abuse in state government programs.

“That’s why we are here: to have serious conversations and get to the root of the fraud,” Robbins said. “So we can put systems in place that will stop it before it happens.”

St. Paul Rep. Dave Pinto is the top Democrat on the committee.

“My DFL colleagues and I are really pleased to be on the committee and are looking forward to kind of learning more, and exploring more,” Pinto said. “Certainly we want to make sure that public funds are being used for public goods.”

The committee first addressed how the state oversees grants to nonprofit organizations.

The legislative auditor’s team was called to testify after the group reviewed the process over recent years.

Since then, the state has made some changes regarding how grants are administrated, the auditor’s teams shared.

Lawmakers asked Legislative Auditor Judy Randall if the state should require more on-site inspections of grant recipients.

“I do think there is a roll to encourage — require on-site visits when grants reach a certain threshold,” Randall said. “I think the question is, what are those thresholds?”

The committee is expected to call state officials who oversee grants to future meetings.