You'll be best served to provide example data and expected output for questions.
I haven't used the report wizard for quite some time, but I think that it has a record selection area, which would allow for filtering at creation time.
Once you've created the report, just go into Report->Edit Selection Formula->Record and place your criteria, such as:
{table.state} = "CA"
You can also create parameters and reference them, such as:
{table.datefield} >= {?MyDateParm}
-k