Updated at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday with remarks from Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

AUSTIN — The Texas bathroom bill is dead — for now.

In an unexpected move late Tuesday, the Texas House wrapped up its business a day ahead of the official end of the 30-day special session, killing any hopes the legislation could be revived in the 11th hour. The Senate adjourned just a few hours later, and lawmakers went home for the second time this year without passing a bathroom bill.

"I'm disappointed," bill author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said Tuesday evening. "In our most intimate spaces, there should be some lines drawn."

Acknowledging that "there has not been a more contentious issue this session," Kolkhorst said she's ready to "take a few breaths and go home."

"It's been a long year."

The bathroom bill may be dead, but the fight over transgender rights in Texas is just beginning.

A top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other far-right Republicans, the issue will likely re-emerge as a conservative litmus test during next year's GOP primary elections, and the legislation itself could be resurrected during the next legislative session in 2019. Patrick and the proposal's other supporters will likely continue to frame the push as the only way to guarantee the privacy and safety of women and children, keep "men out of the ladies' restrooms" and boys off girls' sports teams.

The bathroom legislation, which could have restricted the restrooms, showers and locker rooms available for use to transgender Texans, was the most divisive issue debated in Texas this year. It split the already fractured Republican Party and pitted the Texas House against the Texas Senate.

It brought thousands of people to the state Capitol, the majority of whom rejected the bill as a thinly veiled attempt to marginalize and demonize the transgender community.

1 / 9Libby Gonzales, 7, who is transgender, stands with her father, Frank Gonzales, as he speaks to protestors rallying against the bathroom bill in the capitol extension on the fourth day of a special legislative session on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 2 / 9People stand in line to voice their opinions on the so-called bathroom bill at a public hearing on the fourth day of a special legislative session on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. Legislation being debated would restrict the bathrooms available for use to transgender people. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said she authored the bill because she wants to protect the privacy and dignity of Texas women and girls. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 3 / 9Siobhan Cooke of Nacogdoches, Texas and Mark Jiminez of Dallas are among protestors rallying against the so-called bathroom bill on the fourth day of a special legislative session on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. Legislation being debated would restrict the bathrooms available for use to transgender people. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said she authored the bill because she wants to protect the privacy and dignity of Texas women and girls. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 4 / 9Nicole Lynn Perry, a veteran who is transgender, holds a sign as people stand in line to voice their opinions on the bathroom bill at a public hearing on the fourth day of a special legislative session on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 5 / 9A protestor holds up a sign while chanting during a One Texas Resistance rally on the south steps of the capitol on the first day of a legislative special session on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. She was among those opposing the so-called "bathroom bill" that would ban transgender kids from using the restroom that matches their gender identity. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 6 / 9Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides over the Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, in Austin. A Texas version of a North Carolina-style "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people again lurched toward defeat Tuesday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)(Eric Gay / AP) 7 / 9Supporters of the bathroom bill join pastors at a rally at the state Capitol in Austin on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. Marjorie Kamys Cotera/For The Texas Tribune(Marjorie Kamys Cotera / For The Texas Tribune) 8 / 9State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, right, speaks to Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, left, during debate over a "bathroom bill" in the Senate Chamber, Tuesday, July 25, 2017, in Austin, Texas. The Texas Senate has revived a bill mandating transgender Texans use public restrooms corresponding to their birth-certificate genders. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)(Eric Gay / AP) 9 / 9Speaker of the House Joe Straus smiles as he is interviewed by The Dallas Morning News reporter Bob Garrett, not pictured, in his office on the third day of a special legislative session on Thursday, July 20, 2017 at the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

Businesses, including 51 Fortune 500 companies, opposed the legislation, as did state and national educator groups and law enforcement from the largest cities. All called the bills discriminatory and unnecessary.

These opponents rejoiced when the legislation failed during the regular session. But just weeks later, Gov. Greg Abbott called lawmakers back to Austin and included the issue on a list of 20 priorities to tackle during a month of legislative overtime.

The bathroom bill enjoyed unanimous Republican support in the Senate. But the Texas House killed any chance of the legislation becoming law, letting the bills die quietly by failing to hold a vote on the issue. House leaders responsible for the death blow, including Republican Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, said the measures were solutions in search of a problem.

Ultimately, it was opposition from big business that was the nail in the coffin.

In his first public comments after the session ended, Abbott on Wednesday morning blamed Straus for the failure of nearly half of his legislative agenda, including the bathroom bill, which he said he made a priority knowing the speaker was out to thwart its passage.

"The Speaker made it very clear to me personally that he opposed the privacy bill and said he would never allow it to be voted on," Abbott told Lubbock KFYO radio host Chad Hasty. "There is absolutely no evidence he will ever change his mind on this issue.

"That's why elections matter."

After the Senate adjourned Tuesday night, Patrick said he respected but rejected the opinion of those in the business community who opposed the bill: "They were wrong, all their data was wrong." He promised the legislation would be brought back in 2019.

"The people will demand it," he said. "The issue's not going away."

Carrollton Republican Ron Simmons, the House author of the legislation, agreed the bathroom bill will continue to be a source of debate in Texas until a statewide policy is set.

"The legislation might be dead but the issue is still very much alive until it is solved at the state or federal level," Simmons said. "A patchwork of local ordinances or policies is never best for all Texans."

He acknowledged the courts are expected to get involved as well, as some Texas cities and school districts fight to keep in place anti-discrimination rules that allow them to accommodate the needs of trans men, women and children.

Meanwhile, LGBT activists across the nation celebrated tentatively. While their fight is far from over, they said they were glad Texas has not yet become the second state, after North Carolina, to pass a bathroom bill.

Lou Weaver, transgender programs coordinator for the LGBT right group Equality Texas, said he was "cautious about any possible next steps by our elected officials" but "thankful for all the trans folks and parents of trans youth who kept pushing back."

The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT advocacy organization, said it would remain vigilant.

"Rest assured, the same eyes that watched Texas lawmakers this year will continue to keep a strong, watchful eye," said HRC senior vice president JoDee Winterhof. "If the legislature attempts to attack our communities again, all of us will come out with the same level of force and strength."

Austin bureau chief Brandi Grissom contributed to this report.