A Missouri Senate committee is starting its probe into recent economic development projects that have received public incentives and run into trouble.

The committee held its first hearing Wednesday but took no testimony. The panel plans to ask the state Department of Economic Development for documents related to projects in Moberly and Kirksville.

"It is important for us to look through the process in their due diligence in making sure all the T's are crossed and all the I's are dotted," Sen. Jim Lembke (R), St. Louis said.

The Senate review comes after recent attention to efforts to build an artificial sweetener plant in Moberly.

Mamtek U.S. Inc. planned to employ several hundred people at the plant. Moberly issued $39 million in industrial development bonds and the state offered more than $17 million in incentives, although no state funds went to the company.

Some have said Moberly was strong-armed into taking the deal -- something Gov. Jay Nixon takes issue with.

"We work with cities, but cities make choices about what they want to do in those economic development packages," Nixon said. "They make them independently."

But the plant still is under construction and the company has laid off its employees. Mamtek also has missed a bond payment.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)