In the early 80's, Owens changed his party registration to Republican, frustrated with the tightly controlled State Senate and what he viewed as the Democratic Party's slow walk on issues of racial justice and economic equity.

[3] After losing re-election as a Republican to Royal L. Bolling in a rematch, he switched back to the Democratic party and, after defeating Bolling a final time, served in a final stint in the state senate from 1989 to 1993, losing the 1992 Democratic primary to his successor, Dianne Wilkerson.

[4][5] As a legislator, Owens helped to create the Massachusetts state Office of Minority Business Assistance and the Summer Youth Jobs Program.

In the 1980s, he also "sponsored a bill that would have required state government to pay reparations to Massachusetts descendants of enslaved Black Americans."

[6] Following a bout of COVID-19, Owens died in his sleep at a Brighton, Boston, nursing facility at age 84.