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Ever since Ted Kennedy died, things just haven’t been the same for Massachusetts Democrats.

First it was Scott Brown, the Republican elected to replace the “Liberal Lion,” and now the Massachusetts House has voted to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions.

MASSACHUSETTS STATEHOUSE

Such limits, championed previously by Republican governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio, were taken up by Democrats in the Massachusetts House, where the party has a majority.

Their legislation, included in the House’s version of the state budget, isn’t as sweeping as Walker’s. It would only limit the ability of municipal employees unions (not state ones) to bargain on health insurance.

Democrats watered down the plan shortly before Tuesday’s 114-42 House vote approving it. In its final form, it gives municipal governments and unions 30 days to reach an agreement on health benefits, then bargaining would be limited to premium contributions; cities and towns could unilaterally set copayments and deductibles. (And even then, 20 percent of the savings would still have to be returned to the employees.)

The plan’s passage left labor groups in the state reeling.

Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said, “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions.”

The Massachusetts Senate has yet to release its version of the budget. The final budget will have to be hashed out between the two chambers and Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick.

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