Code:
state=${1:-TX}
list="AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA,
HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD,
MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ,
NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC,
SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY"
awk -v state=$state -v list="$list" '
BEGIN { sub( state, "", list); print list; exit }
'