Simple array for HTML mockups.

function state_selection() {
        echo '<select name="state">';
                $states = array(
                        'Alabama', 'Alaska', 'Arizona', 'Arkansas', 'California', 'Colorado', 'Connecticut', 'Delaware', 'District of Columbia', 'Florida', 'Georgia', 'Hawaii', 'Idaho', 'Illinois', 'Indiana', 'Iowa', 'Kansas', 'Kentucky', 'Louisiana', 'Maine', 'Maryland', 'Massachusetts', 'Michigan', 'Minnesota', 'Mississippi', 'Missouri', 'Montana', 'Nebraska', 'Nevada', 'New Hampshire', 'New Jersey', 'New Mexico', 'New York', 'North Carolina', 'North Dakota', 'Ohio', 'Oklahoma', 'Oregon', 'Pennsylvania', 'Rhode Island', 'South Carolina', 'South Dakota', 'Tennessee', 'Texas', 'Utah', 'Vermont', 'Virginia', 'Washington', 'West Virginia', 'Wisconsin', 'Wyoming'
                );
                foreach ($states as $state_name) {
                        echo '<option value="'.$state_name.'">'.$state_name.'</option>';
                }
        echo '</select>';
}
state_selection();

// description of your code here

<%= select_tag( :saction, options_for_select([["Actions:",0],["Edit",1],["Delete",2]],0),
                                :onchange => "if(confirm('Are you sure?  This will effect all products checked below.')) products_form.submit(); else products_form.saction.value = 0;")%>

<%= select_tag( :sort_by, options_for_select([["Sort by:",0],["Name",'name'],["Price",'price'], ["Date Listed",'id']],0),
                                :onchange => remote_function(        :with => "'sort_by='+$(\"sort_by\").value",
                                                                                                :loading => "false;",
:url => { :controller => 'products', :action => :change_order } )
)  %>