Advocacy
Where I fight.
And why it matters.
Every advocacy fight I take on comes back to the same principle: the complexity of a system should never become a weapon against the people that system is supposed to serve.
Current Legislative Advocacy
The Direct Selling
Clarity Act.
Renee Waite — Campaign Director
The Direct Selling Clarity Act is federal legislation that gives the 12.2 million Americans in direct selling the same right every other American in commerce already holds: to tell the truth about their own results, in their own words, judged by the same standard as everyone else.
Right now, a banker can state what she earns. A real estate agent can post photos of the home she sold. A direct seller who states the same kind of truth — or shares a photograph of her own home and her own life — can be called deceptive under a standard that appears in no statute, was voted on by no Congress, and was written entirely by the agency itself.
The FTC Act's core deception language dates to 1938. The statute has never once mentioned multi-level marketing, direct selling, pyramid schemes, or earnings claims. Everything enforced against direct sellers was written not by Congress, but by the agency itself — in guidance documents, settlement orders, and staff reports. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed: only Congress makes law.
"Same words. Same truth. Same law. Different treatment."
The Direct Selling Clarity Act
Five things this bill does.
Equal Speech for Equal Work
The same truthful, substantiated statement — whether in words or in a photograph of a person's own home, family, and results — is governed by the same legal standard no matter who is speaking.
Define Both Sides of the Line
Federal law defines both the illegal pyramid scheme AND the legitimate direct-selling business in statute — so fraud is prosecuted harder and honest companies can prove what they are.
A Written Path for Truthful Speech
A lawful, disclosure-based path for direct sellers to discuss real, substantiated results — so that telling the truth is never itself the offense.
Standardized Disclosure at Enrollment
Every prospective participant receives the same categories of information before signing anything — clear, consistent, and written.
Government Accuracy
When government resolves a case through a no-admission settlement, its public announcement accurately states what the settlement actually says — no more, no less.
The Industry at Stake
$100B+
contributed to the U.S. economy annually
12.2M
Americans in direct selling
5.4M
active entrepreneurs — most of them women building businesses from home
Why this bill is both tougher on fraud and fairer to honest people.
This bill does not weaken enforcement. It strengthens it. By defining the illegal pyramid scheme in statute — for the first time in 90 years — the bill creates a bright, prosecutable line. Fraud becomes easier to identify, easier to prove, and easier to punish. Ambiguity is a con artist's best friend; clarity is not.
At the same time, honest sellers — 12.2 million of them — get the same right every other business already holds: to tell the truth about their own results without it being treated as a presumptive crime. Consumer protection and entrepreneurial freedom are not opposites. This bill proves it.
A Win for Community Access
AB 638 — and the case
for ethical regulation.
AB 638 was California legislation that threatened to eliminate community-based immigration consulting services — the affordable, accessible option for families who can't afford private attorneys. We stopped it. But the fight was never simply about stopping a bill. It was about what that bill got wrong.
Eliminating immigration consulting doesn't protect immigrants. It removes their most affordable option and leaves them with two choices: unqualified notarios who prey on vulnerable families, or no help at all. That is not consumer protection. That is abandonment dressed up as policy.
The right answer was never elimination — it was ethical regulation. Regulation that draws a clear line between the bad actors who cause harm and the qualified professionals who serve communities. Regulation that establishes standards, defines scope of practice, and holds everyone accountable to the same ethical floor.
With 15+ years in this space — working alongside attorneys, training practitioners, and advocating at the capitol — I've seen what happens when communities lose access to affordable help. I've also seen what happens when professionals operate without clear ethical guidance. Both are failures. The mission is fixing both.
The Ethics Mission
Protecting Immigrants
Preserving affordable, qualified alternatives so families aren't forced to choose between exploitation and nothing.
Standards for Practitioners
Teaching immigration professionals their scope, their ethical obligations, and the lines they must never cross — so the whole field operates with integrity.
Accountability for Bad Actors
Going after notarios and unqualified operators who exploit vulnerable families — not eliminating the field that protects against them.
Ongoing Legislation
AB 638 was stopped — but the work continues. Advocating for the next bill that gets ethical regulation right from the start.
Access is not a luxury.
Ethics is not optional.
Whether it's an immigrant family navigating a complex system, or a direct seller being held to a standard no one ever wrote down — the throughline is the same. Rules should be written, known, and applied equally. And when they aren't, that's worth fighting to change.
"If the system is too complicated for the people it serves, the problem is the system — not the people trying to navigate it."