If there’s a September special session of the state Legislature — and the weekend flooding of southeastern Minnesota probably increases the odds — two issues are all but guaranteed to be at the heart of it.

The first is the original reason for a fall special session — the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. The second is any emergency relief that might be required to help deal with the deluge and flooding that stretched from Owatonna to the Mississippi River.

“It sounds like they’re really struggling,” said state Sen. Kathy Sheran of Mankato after talking to a senator who represents much of the flooded area. “... There will be an enormous, critical amount of money the communities will need to reestablish after this.”

But it’s the other potential issues on the agenda that would have a more immediate impact on Mankato-area residents, and area lawmakers are split on which of those elements will make the final cut.

“There have to be a lot of agreements (before Gov. Tim Pawlenty will call a special session),” said Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont. “They have to figure out what a special session is going to be about. Is it going to be just transportation?”

Rep. Kathy Brynaert, DFL-Mankato, doesn’t want to minimize the significance of the I-35W tragedy by adding trivial items — or ones that could easily wait for the February start of the 2008 regular legislative session — to the special session agenda.

“To me that’s not respectful of the importance of the immediate issue at hand,” Brynaert said. “... We ought not to politicize that.”

At the same time, lawmakers from both parties said the transportation problems facing Minnesota go beyond one bridge. And the solutions go beyond boosting transportation funding sources such as increasing the gas tax or dedicating proceeds of sales taxes on leased vehicles to road and bridge projects.

“The special session, to me, is about much more than this current crisis, the failure of this bridge,” Sheran said. “ ... That’s just a little exposure to a huge cancerous tumor underneath.”

Along with inadequate funding for state highways and bridges, there’s also a financial crisis facing city, county and township road systems around the state, Sheran said. More state support for those local roads and bridges needs to be a part of any transportation package passed during the special session.

That means revisiting the bonding bill, which included $30 million for local bridge repair and replacement, and the tax bill, which included an increase in Local Government Aid to many cities around the state, Sheran said. Both bills were vetoed by Pawlenty.

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, thinks it makes sense to approve state bonding for local bridges, but he thinks it would be a mistake to revisit the entire bill — which includes everything from parks and bike trails to hockey arenas and civic centers.

“It’s going to be a hard sell because there’s so much personal items and pork in there,” Cornish said.

State Rep. Terry Morrow, a St. Peter Democrat who serves on the House Transportation Finance Committee, said property-tax relief also plays into the transportation finance issue. Local governments have had to raise property taxes as they picked up a bigger share of the burden for repairing and improving roads after the state scaled back its funding.

“It’s important that people understand that the state doesn’t construct every road,” Morrow said.

Then there’s the unfinished, but broadly supported, business from the regular session that ended after lawmakers ran up against the constitutional deadline for adjournment May 21.

Those items include cost-of-living adjustments for nursing home workers and a constitutional amendment to increase the sales tax to provide more funding for the outdoors and the arts.

“I’d love to revisit nursing home COLAs,” said Gunther, who maintains the issue is approaching emergency status for nursing homes in his district — Martin and parts of Faribault and Watonwan counties. “I think all seven of them in my district are in red ink.”

But Cornish fears reopening the health and human services bill could run counter to the idea of a quick special session. He also says the constitutional amendment can wait until next year’s regular session.

Dealing with the disasters and possibly property-tax relief is enough, said Cornish, because partisanship is likely to rear its head.

“I don’t think anybody believes that everybody’s going to come in and talk nice,” he said. “Both sides are going to try to get their pound of flesh and lay blame.”