diff --git a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
index 73568a1e9..47a70ea40 100644
--- a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
+++ b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 docker:
   image: gcr.io/cloud-devrel-public-resources/owlbot-java:latest
-  digest: sha256:af2eda87a54601ae7b7b2be5055c17b43ac98a7805b586772db314de8a7d4a1d
-# created: 2023-06-16T02:10:09.149325782Z
+  digest: sha256:32851debfefed2b66038e0141f1b5c2103bb59ba80b7475adbc10ef7abab3de7
+# created: 2023-06-22T15:06:52.039318836Z
diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yml b/.github/dependabot.yml
index fde1ced49..203f9eacc 100644
--- a/.github/dependabot.yml
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ updates:
       interval: "daily"
     # Disable version updates for Maven dependencies
     # we use renovate-bot as well as shared-dependencies BOM to update maven dependencies.
-    ignore: "*"
+    ignore:
+      - dependency-name: "*"
   - package-ecosystem: "pip"
     directory: "/"
     schedule:
@@ -14,4 +15,5 @@ updates:
     # Disable version updates for pip dependencies
     # If a security vulnerability comes in, we will be notified about 
     # it via template in the synthtool repository.
-    ignore: "*"
+    ignore:
+      - dependency-name: "*"
diff --git a/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml b/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
index 223b72e8a..a37ac497e 100644
--- a/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
+++ b/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ branchProtectionRules:
     requiresCodeOwnerReviews: true
     requiresStrictStatusChecks: false
     requiredStatusCheckContexts:
-      - dependencies (8)
-      - dependencies (11)
+      - dependencies (17)
       - lint
       - clirr
       - units (8)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index e3bb26e37..65436cde4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        java: [8, 11, 17]
+        java: [11, 17]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
     - uses: actions/setup-java@v3
@@ -36,6 +36,28 @@ jobs:
     - run: .kokoro/build.sh
       env:
         JOB_TYPE: test
+  units-java8:
+    # Building using Java 17 and run the tests with Java 8 runtime
+    name: "units (8)"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        with:
+          java-version: 8
+          distribution: zulu
+      - name: "Set jvm system property environment variable for surefire plugin (unit tests)"
+        # Maven surefire plugin (unit tests) allows us to specify JVM to run the tests.
+        # https://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-surefire-plugin/test-mojo.html#jvm
+        run: echo "SUREFIRE_JVM_OPT=-Djvm=${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        shell: bash
+      - uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        with:
+          java-version: 17
+          distribution: zulu
+      - run: .kokoro/build.sh
+        env:
+          JOB_TYPE: test
   windows:
     runs-on: windows-latest
     steps:
@@ -54,7 +76,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        java: [8, 11, 17]
+        java: [17]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
     - uses: actions/setup-java@v3
diff --git a/.kokoro/build.sh b/.kokoro/build.sh
index 0c26eec01..1b59f5bc3 100755
--- a/.kokoro/build.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/build.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ set +e
 
 case ${JOB_TYPE} in
 test)
-    mvn test -B -ntp -Dclirr.skip=true -Denforcer.skip=true
+    echo "SUREFIRE_JVM_OPT: ${SUREFIRE_JVM_OPT}"
+    mvn test -B -ntp -Dclirr.skip=true -Denforcer.skip=true ${SUREFIRE_JVM_OPT}
     RETURN_CODE=$?
     ;;
 lint)
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml b/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
index 8ec75d746..cd67ff7c8 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery/pom.xml
@@ -215,6 +215,13 @@
       <id>java17</id>
       <activation>
         <jdk>[17,)</jdk>
+        <property>
+          <!--
+          In Java 8 unit tests where we run tests in Java 8 after building
+          bytecode on Java 17, we don't want to add the argLine
+          -->
+          <name>!jvm</name>
+        </property>
       </activation>
       <build>
         <plugins>