LITTLE ROCK—Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says he’s paring down his wish list for this year’s legislative session, focusing instead on a handful of controversial issues where it may take more time to build support among lawmakers.

“This session, it’s my intent to run fewer bills but have them be weightier, meatier,” McDaniel said in an interview with The Associated Press in his office last week. “Clearly they are more complex and controversial and time-consuming, so I intend to lower the gross number of bills I would characterize as package bills.”

Unlike two years ago, when McDaniel’s legislative package included a dozen items, the state’s top law enforcement officer is only pushing a few issues that wants to get through the session, which begins Monday.

The former state representative from Jonesboro has spent the past several months working to stiffen the penalties for animal cruelty and crafting an ethics bill. He said he also will push for legislation that will remove an escape clause from aggravated robbery convictions for people trying to recover gambling losses — an arcane piece of state law that the state’s highest court last year used to order an inmate off death row.

McDaniel’s already won a preliminary victory for one of his top priorities, a bill that would make aggravated animal cruelty a felony on the first offense, by winning over a group that opposed similar efforts. The Arkansas Farm Bureau announced that it would support McDaniel’s animal cruelty bill.

McDaniel said the proposal already has the support of a majority of both the House and Senate judiciary committees, which would likely consider the measure, and he’s already predicting easy passage of the bill. Legislative leaders and Gov. Mike Beebe have said they support making aggravated animal cruelty a felony on a first offense.

McDaniel’s office hasn’t released a copy of the legislation, but said it will make felony aggravated cruelty to dogs, horses or cats a Class D felony on first offense, punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A second offense within five years would be a Class C felony, punishable by between three and 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.