What is the role of state constitutions in state governments?

The role of state constitutions is to develop the plan of government a state will have. Some of the ideas a state constitution will explain include what the role of legislative branch will be, how many houses will comprise the legislative branch, how long an elected term of office lasts, and if term limits exist.
The constitution will also explain the structure and the role of the executive branch. Some state constitutions, such as Wisconsin’s constitution, give the governor broad veto powers by allowing the governor to cross out letters, words, numbers, or specific lines in a proposed budget. Other state constitutions more strictly limit what the governor can do.
The role of the judicial branch is also explained and identified in the state constitution. It will say what cases a state court can hear and establish the process for bringing a case into the court system.
The state constitution determines the structure of state government and what it may and may not do. It should be noted that state constitutions may not violate the Constitution of the United States.


State Constitutions are there to give citizens more rights.
Let's break this down. The United States Constitution is essentially the resource for the bare minimum rights that each and every citizen retains. A right to live without encumbrance, a right to not have your property taken without proper recourse, a right to due process. These are the basic guidelines for the overarching rule of law in the United States.
But an important theme in the United States government is the idea of state sovereignty. So while states and citizens must follow the laws set out in the United States Constitution, each state also has the right to govern its citizens. State constitutions are the way that states govern their citizens.
Here is where the idea that state constitutions are essentially there to give more, not less, rights to citizens. Where the United States Constitution states that we have a "right to bear arms", the state constitutions can expand upon that - for example, stating that citizens in their state can carry guns into certain buildings with proper permits. But it cannot take away the right to bear arms.
In another example, United States citizens are allowed to express themselves freely. A state constitution may give a citizen the right to express themselves in more ways than just speech - protest, art, hunger strikes, etc., but may not restrict that right of free speech.
Thus, the role of state constitutions are to enforce and grow the rights of citizens already set out in the United States Constitution.


In any government, the role of the constitution is to set out the structure of the government.  It tells us what the parts of government are and what powers they have.  This is the function of state constitutions in a state government.
The Constitution of the United States guarantees that each state will have a republican form of government.  Beyond that, however, it does not tell the states how to set up this republican government. Therefore, the states have to have constitutions that set out exactly how their state government will work.  For example, it has to say how many houses its legislature will have and how long legislators’ terms will be.
The state constitutions also set out other rules.  For example, most state constitutions specify that their state governments have to have a balanced budget every year.  State constitutions can also outline rights that are granted to or denied to their citizens, so long as they do not violate the US Constitution.  Therefore, a state constitution may guarantee its citizens the right to a free public education.  It may also specify whether that state can have capital punishment.  In these, and many other ways, state constitutions can set out the rules that their state’s government must follow.
State constitutions, then, have two major functions.  They set up the basic mechanism of government in their state and they lay out rules that the state government must follow.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/state-local-government/

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