diff --git a/bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py b/bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
index e98f390ff616..a00a1a28abaa 100644
--- a/bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
+++ b/bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 """Client for interacting with the Google BigQuery API."""
 
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.bigquery._http import Connection
 from google.cloud.bigquery.dataset import Dataset
 from google.cloud.bigquery.job import CopyJob
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def from_api_repr(cls, resource):
             resource['id'], resource['numericId'], resource['friendlyName'])
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/core/google/cloud/_helpers.py b/core/google/cloud/_helpers.py
index f2fceb8526ed..22ed39b24ffc 100644
--- a/core/google/cloud/_helpers.py
+++ b/core/google/cloud/_helpers.py
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ def _name_from_project_path(path, project, template):
     return match.group('name')
 
 
-def make_secure_channel(credentials, user_agent, host, extra_options=None):
+def make_secure_channel(credentials, user_agent, host, extra_options=()):
     """Makes a secure channel for an RPC service.
 
     Uses / depends on gRPC.
@@ -538,10 +538,7 @@ def make_secure_channel(credentials, user_agent, host, extra_options=None):
     http_request = google_auth_httplib2.Request(http=httplib2.Http())
 
     user_agent_option = ('grpc.primary_user_agent', user_agent)
-    if extra_options is not None:
-        options = (user_agent_option,) + extra_options
-    else:
-        options = (user_agent_option,)
+    options = (user_agent_option,) + extra_options
     return google.auth.transport.grpc.secure_authorized_channel(
         credentials,
         http_request,
@@ -550,7 +547,7 @@ def make_secure_channel(credentials, user_agent, host, extra_options=None):
 
 
 def make_secure_stub(credentials, user_agent, stub_class, host,
-                     extra_options=None):
+                     extra_options=()):
     """Makes a secure stub for an RPC service.
 
     Uses / depends on gRPC.
diff --git a/core/google/cloud/client.py b/core/google/cloud/client.py
index 7a14e03f763a..01dec6498b9e 100644
--- a/core/google/cloud/client.py
+++ b/core/google/cloud/client.py
@@ -129,11 +129,8 @@ def _determine_default(project):
         return _determine_default_project(project)
 
 
-class JSONClient(Client, _ClientProjectMixin):
-    """Client for Google JSON-based API.
-
-    Assumes such APIs use the ``project`` and the client needs to store this
-    value.
+class ClientWithProject(Client, _ClientProjectMixin):
+    """Client that also stores a project.
 
     :type project: str
     :param project: the project which the client acts on behalf of. If not
diff --git a/core/unit_tests/test__helpers.py b/core/unit_tests/test__helpers.py
index e0642780c0a4..ced80e92278f 100644
--- a/core/unit_tests/test__helpers.py
+++ b/core/unit_tests/test__helpers.py
@@ -789,7 +789,7 @@ def mock_channel(*args, **kwargs):
         credentials = object()
         user_agent = 'you-sir-age-int'
         host = 'localhost'
-        extra_options = {'extra_options': None}
+        extra_options = {'extra_options': ()}
         with _Monkey(MUT, make_secure_channel=mock_channel):
             stub = self._call_fut(credentials, user_agent,
                                   stub_class, host)
diff --git a/core/unit_tests/test_client.py b/core/unit_tests/test_client.py
index a503891bc0c6..e3e58f238d85 100644
--- a/core/unit_tests/test_client.py
+++ b/core/unit_tests/test_client.py
@@ -104,13 +104,13 @@ def test_from_service_account_json_bad_args(self):
                 mock.sentinel.filename, credentials=mock.sentinel.credentials)
 
 
-class TestJSONClient(unittest.TestCase):
+class TestClientWithProject(unittest.TestCase):
 
     @staticmethod
     def _get_target_class():
-        from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+        from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 
-        return JSONClient
+        return ClientWithProject
 
     def _make_one(self, *args, **kw):
         return self._get_target_class()(*args, **kw)
diff --git a/dns/google/cloud/dns/client.py b/dns/google/cloud/dns/client.py
index 429ebe941c04..3d33aa4711b2 100644
--- a/dns/google/cloud/dns/client.py
+++ b/dns/google/cloud/dns/client.py
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@
 """Client for interacting with the Google Cloud DNS API."""
 
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.dns.connection import Connection
 from google.cloud.dns.zone import ManagedZone
 from google.cloud.iterator import HTTPIterator
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/logging/google/cloud/logging/client.py b/logging/google/cloud/logging/client.py
index 77e762e6c808..2a29c0d03b49 100644
--- a/logging/google/cloud/logging/client.py
+++ b/logging/google/cloud/logging/client.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 else:
     _HAVE_GAX = True
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.environment_vars import DISABLE_GRPC
 from google.cloud.logging._http import Connection
 from google.cloud.logging._http import _LoggingAPI as JSONLoggingAPI
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 """Environment variable set in a Google Container Engine environment."""
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/monitoring/google/cloud/monitoring/client.py b/monitoring/google/cloud/monitoring/client.py
index ccf3d0866d86..aec2144aa73e 100644
--- a/monitoring/google/cloud/monitoring/client.py
+++ b/monitoring/google/cloud/monitoring/client.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 import datetime
 
 from google.cloud._helpers import _datetime_to_rfc3339
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.monitoring.connection import Connection
 from google.cloud.monitoring.group import Group
 from google.cloud.monitoring.metric import Metric
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 _UTCNOW = datetime.datetime.utcnow  # To be replaced by tests.
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub/client.py b/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub/client.py
index a66aebc5db95..60c4a510d1fa 100644
--- a/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub/client.py
+++ b/pubsub/google/cloud/pubsub/client.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 import os
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.environment_vars import DISABLE_GRPC
 from google.cloud.pubsub._http import Connection
 from google.cloud.pubsub._http import _PublisherAPI as JSONPublisherAPI
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 _USE_GAX = _HAVE_GAX and not _DISABLE_GAX
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/runtimeconfig/google/cloud/runtimeconfig/client.py b/runtimeconfig/google/cloud/runtimeconfig/client.py
index d74e5349db3e..0dc95e655dd8 100644
--- a/runtimeconfig/google/cloud/runtimeconfig/client.py
+++ b/runtimeconfig/google/cloud/runtimeconfig/client.py
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@
 """Client for interacting with the Google Cloud RuntimeConfig API."""
 
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.runtimeconfig.connection import Connection
 from google.cloud.runtimeconfig.config import Config
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/storage/google/cloud/storage/client.py b/storage/google/cloud/storage/client.py
index d7697a4323eb..624954e6e7f0 100644
--- a/storage/google/cloud/storage/client.py
+++ b/storage/google/cloud/storage/client.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 
 from google.cloud._helpers import _LocalStack
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.exceptions import NotFound
 from google.cloud.iterator import HTTPIterator
 from google.cloud.storage._http import Connection
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 from google.cloud.storage.bucket import Bucket
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str
diff --git a/vision/google/cloud/vision/client.py b/vision/google/cloud/vision/client.py
index 89d9829d16fa..4d0a5771300c 100644
--- a/vision/google/cloud/vision/client.py
+++ b/vision/google/cloud/vision/client.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 import os
 
-from google.cloud.client import JSONClient
+from google.cloud.client import ClientWithProject
 from google.cloud.environment_vars import DISABLE_GRPC
 
 from google.cloud.vision._gax import _GAPICVisionAPI
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 _USE_GAX = not os.getenv(DISABLE_GRPC, False)
 
 
-class Client(JSONClient):
+class Client(ClientWithProject):
     """Client to bundle configuration needed for API requests.
 
     :type project: str