State Education Rankings

US Accreditation agencies recognized by the US Department of Education or CHEA are considered acceptable; others require investigation to figure out what, if any, value they have.

The New York Board or Regents regulates education in New York State, including college and university education. They are the only state regulator I know of that is recognized by the US Department of Education. See http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg8.html#Title%20IV%20Recognition

I am not aware of any state regulators being recognized by CHEA.

So your list seems to be:
1. New York State
2 through 50. The rest of the states

There is room to argue about this, for example, how effectively various states work to put unregistered schools out of business.

 

The book "Diploma Mills" by Spille and Stewart had an appendix where they evaluated the laws in the 50 states, and rated (not ranked them) from very weak to very strong. Since the authors were then power-possessing beings at the American Council on Education, their writing had the force of authority, albeit informally. But many things have happened in the ten-or-so years since that book--generally in the direction of stronger laws.

I haven't done an analysis of all of them -- gee, I wish someone else would -- but it seems to me that Wyoming, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Alabama are at the bottom of the heap. Alabama is the worst, because their rubber-stamp licensing, even if your campus is a mailbox, is actually called "state approval" there.