Couple of simple Joomla tasks - Hours work maximum

Hi, I am need of a couple of quick things done with my Joomla installations that shouldn't take anymore than an hour of your time if you are a professional with Joomla. My requirements are: 1) I have a search page where you can select which state you want to search. Below this, is a box which allows you type in a search keyword that will search within the state that you have selected from the drop down. The problem is that when you click on search, the state option goes back to it's default value and it's not searching the state you selected. I need this fixed. 2) I have a small form that when submitted, it should create a new account within the Joomla registration. The fields are: Username, Business Name, Contact Name, Contact Phone,Email address, Confirm Email, Password and Verify Password I will pass the URL of the website to interested people.