use DBI;
use HTML::Template;
use CGI qw(:standard);

my $dbh = DBI->connect(
    qw(DBI:vendor:database:host user pass),
    {RaiseError=>1},
);

my $states = $dbh->selectall_arrayref('
   select id,name from state order by name
',{Slice => {}});

my $tmpl = HTML::Template->new(filehandle => \*DATA);
$tmpl->param(states => $states);

print header,$tmpl->output;

__DATA__
<form>
<select name="states">
<tmpl_loop states>
   <option value="<tmpl_var id>"><tmpl_var name></option>
</tmpl_loop>
</select>
<p><input type="submit" /></p>
</form>

##</code><code>##

$_->{id} == param('state') and $_->{sel} = 1 for @$states;

##</code><code>##

<option value="<tmpl_var id>" <tmpl_if sel>selected="1"</tmpl_if>>
   <tmpl_var name>
</option>

##</code><code>##

... beginning same as before ...
my $states = $dbh->selectall_arrayref( ... );
my $tmpl   = HTML::Template->new(filehandle => \*DATA);

$tmpl->param(states =>
   scrolling_list(
      -name     => 'states',
      -values   => [ map $_->{id}, @$states ],
      -size     => 12,
      -multiple => 'why not',
      -labels   => { map {$_->{id} => $_->{name}} @$states },
   ),
);

print header,$tmpl->output;

__DATA__
<form>
<tmpl_var states>
<p><input type="submit" /></p>
</form>