diff --git a/tools/run_tests/filter_pull_request_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/filter_pull_request_tests.py
index 981fbe3a926..ca1d6d4eb5a 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/filter_pull_request_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/filter_pull_request_tests.py
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ class TestSuite:
 
 
 # Create test suites
-_SANITY_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['sanity'])
 _CORE_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['c'])
 _CPP_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['c++'])
 _CSHARP_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['csharp'])
@@ -68,10 +67,10 @@ _RUBY_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['ruby'])
 _LINUX_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['linux'])
 _WINDOWS_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['windows'])
 _MACOS_TEST_SUITE = TestSuite(['macos'])
-_ALL_TEST_SUITES = [_SANITY_TEST_SUITE, _CORE_TEST_SUITE, _CPP_TEST_SUITE,
-                    _CSHARP_TEST_SUITE, _NODE_TEST_SUITE, _OBJC_TEST_SUITE,
-                    _PHP_TEST_SUITE, _PYTHON_TEST_SUITE, _RUBY_TEST_SUITE,
-                    _LINUX_TEST_SUITE, _WINDOWS_TEST_SUITE, _MACOS_TEST_SUITE]
+_ALL_TEST_SUITES = [_CORE_TEST_SUITE, _CPP_TEST_SUITE, _CSHARP_TEST_SUITE,
+                    _NODE_TEST_SUITE, _OBJC_TEST_SUITE, _PHP_TEST_SUITE,
+                    _PYTHON_TEST_SUITE, _RUBY_TEST_SUITE, _LINUX_TEST_SUITE,
+                    _WINDOWS_TEST_SUITE, _MACOS_TEST_SUITE]
 
 # Dictionary of whitelistable files where the key is a regex matching changed files
 # and the value is a list of tests that should be run. An empty list means that
@@ -90,7 +89,7 @@ _WHITELIST_DICT = {
   '^src/php/': [_PHP_TEST_SUITE],
   '^src/python/': [_PYTHON_TEST_SUITE],
   '^src/ruby/': [_RUBY_TEST_SUITE],
-  '^templates/': [_SANITY_TEST_SUITE],
+  '^templates/': [],
   '^test/core/': [_CORE_TEST_SUITE],
   '^test/cpp/': [_CPP_TEST_SUITE],
   '^test/distrib/cpp/': [_CPP_TEST_SUITE],
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/sanity/check_test_filtering.py b/tools/run_tests/sanity/check_test_filtering.py
index adcdd338d2c..b522cdeb49a 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/sanity/check_test_filtering.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/sanity/check_test_filtering.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('tools/run_tests/'))
 from run_tests_matrix import _create_test_jobs, _create_portability_test_jobs
 import filter_pull_request_tests
 
-_LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS = ['sanity', 'c', 'c++', 'csharp', 'node', 'objc', 'php', 'php7', 'python', 'ruby']
+_LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS = ['c', 'c++', 'csharp', 'node', 'objc', 'php', 'php7', 'python', 'ruby']
 _LIST_OF_PLATFORM_LABELS = ['linux', 'macos', 'windows']
 
 class TestFilteringTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@ class TestFilteringTest(unittest.TestCase):
     print
     filtered_jobs = filter_pull_request_tests.filter_tests(all_jobs, "test")
 
+    # Make sure sanity tests aren't being filtered out
+    sanity_tests_in_all_jobs = 0
+    sanity_tests_in_filtered_jobs = 0
+    for job in all_jobs:
+      if "sanity" in job.labels:
+        sanity_tests_in_all_jobs += 1
+    all_jobs = [job for job in all_jobs if "sanity" not in job.labels]
+    for job in filtered_jobs:
+      if "sanity" in job.labels:
+        sanity_tests_in_filtered_jobs += 1
+    filtered_jobs = [job for job in filtered_jobs if "sanity" not in job.labels]
+    self.assertEquals(sanity_tests_in_all_jobs, sanity_tests_in_filtered_jobs)
+
     for label in labels:
       for job in filtered_jobs:
         self.assertNotIn(label, job.labels)
@@ -82,8 +95,6 @@ class TestFilteringTest(unittest.TestCase):
     # Changing core should trigger all tests
     self.test_filtering(['src/core/foo.bar'], [_LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS])
     # Testing individual languages
-    self.test_filtering(['templates/foo.bar'], [label for label in _LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS if label not in
-                                                filter_pull_request_tests._SANITY_TEST_SUITE.labels])
     self.test_filtering(['test/core/foo.bar'], [label for label in _LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS if label not in
                                                 filter_pull_request_tests._CORE_TEST_SUITE.labels])
     self.test_filtering(['src/cpp/foo.bar'], [label for label in _LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS if label not in
@@ -102,9 +113,9 @@ class TestFilteringTest(unittest.TestCase):
                                                filter_pull_request_tests._RUBY_TEST_SUITE.labels])
 
   def test_combined_language_filters(self):
-    self.test_filtering(['templates/foo.bar', 'test/core/foo.bar'],
+    self.test_filtering(['src/cpp/foo.bar', 'test/core/foo.bar'],
                         [label for label in _LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS if label not in
-                         filter_pull_request_tests._SANITY_TEST_SUITE.labels and label not in
+                         filter_pull_request_tests._CPP_TEST_SUITE.labels and label not in
                          filter_pull_request_tests._CORE_TEST_SUITE.labels])
     self.test_filtering(['src/node/foo.bar', 'src/cpp/foo.bar', "src/csharp/foo.bar"],
                         [label for label in _LIST_OF_LANGUAGE_LABELS if label not in