The Marietta VA clinic will bear the name of former East Cobb resident and Cobb County Commission Chairman Mike Boyce after the U.S. House voted unanimously Thursday, July 16, to pass H.R. 5362. The bill now heads to the Senate.

The 418-0 vote, taken under suspension of the rules, would officially rename the Department of Veterans Affairs multispecialty clinic in Marietta as the "Colonel Michael H. Boyce Department of Veterans Affairs Multispecialty Clinic."

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-GA-11, introduced the legislation. In a statement after the vote, Loudermilk called Boyce "instrumental in establishing the Cobb County VA Clinic, which remains a vital resource for those who served our country honorably." He also acknowledged Boyce's wife, Judy Boyce, for continuing her husband's advocacy.

Rep. Lucy McBath, D-GA-6, co-sponsored the bill, making it a bipartisan effort. McBath said in a statement that Boyce led the charge in establishing both the first Cobb VA clinic and the county's first Veterans Service Office.

Sharon Mason, president and CEO of the Cobb Chamber, also backed the legislation. Georgia Reps. Austin Scott, R-GA-8, Earl L. "Buddy" Carter, R-GA-1, and Andrew Clyde, R-GA-9, issued statements in support as well.

Boyce, a Republican, served as Cobb County Board of Commissioners chairman from 2017 to 2020. He won the seat in 2016 by defeating incumbent Chairman Tim Lee in a primary dominated by opposition to the deal that brought the Atlanta Braves to Cobb County. He lost his reelection bid in 2020 to current Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.

Before entering local politics, Boyce spent more than 30 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring in 2001 at the rank of colonel. He and his wife lived in East Cobb, where he was an active member of Mount Bethel United Methodist Church.

Boyce died Jan. 25, 2022, in South Bend, Indiana, at age 72, after suffering strokes earlier that month.

The bill must pass the U.S. Senate before it can be signed into law. No Senate sponsor or timeline has been identified.