diff --git a/.kokoro/system.sh b/.kokoro/system.sh
index 0da9ac7b7dec..25892de44843 100755
--- a/.kokoro/system.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/system.sh
@@ -133,14 +133,24 @@ for path in `find 'packages' \
   package_path="packages/${package_name}"
 
   # Determine if we should skip based on git diff
-  files_to_check="${package_path}/CHANGELOG.md"
+  # We always check for changes in these specific versioning/config files
+  files_to_check=(
+    "${package_path}/CHANGELOG.md"
+    "${package_path}/setup.py"
+    "${package_path}/pyproject.toml"
+    "${package_path}/**/gapic_version.py"
+    "${package_path}/**/version.py"
+  )
+
+  # If the package is in our "always run full system tests" list, check the whole directory
   if [[ $package_name == @($packages_with_system_tests_pattern) ]]; then
-    files_to_check="${package_path}"
+    files_to_check=("${package_path}")
   fi
 
-  echo "checking changes with 'git diff "${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH}...${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_COMMIT}" -- ${files_to_check}'"
+  echo "checking changes with 'git diff ${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH}...${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_COMMIT} -- ${files_to_check[*]}'"
   set +e
-  package_modified=$(git diff "${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH}...${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_COMMIT}" -- ${files_to_check} | wc -l)
+  # Passing the array expanded as arguments to git diff
+  package_modified=$(git diff "${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH}...${KOKORO_GITHUB_PULL_REQUEST_COMMIT}" -- "${files_to_check[@]}" | wc -l)
   set -e
 
   if [[ "${package_modified}" -gt 0 || "$KOKORO_BUILD_ARTIFACTS_SUBDIR" == *"continuous"* ]]; then