New Jersey Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker have reintroduced legislation that they say would force WWOR-TV, based in Secaucus, to broadcast local programming as promised in the station’s Federal Communications Commission license.

The bill is called the expanded Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act, and it would clarify that the special obligations of Section 331 of the Communications Act still apply even if a station has converted to an ultra-high frequency. In addition, the bill would require Section 331 licensee holders, like WWOR, to broadcast local programming, consult with local leaders and make it easier for the public to participate in the license renewal process.

The station, which shut down its entire New Jersey news operation in 2013 and has failed to provide local news coverage since then, had its license had its license renewed by the FCC last year.

“As long as WWOR continues to fail to live up to its obligations we will continue to hold them accountable to New Jerseyans,” Menendez said. “This legislation will prevent local TV stations, like WWOR, from ignoring their obligations and will strengthen the role of the communities they serve by giving local leaders and the public an active role in their programming and license renewal process.”

In accordance with a 1982 federal law, the FCC stipulated that any license holder for WWOR-TV “devote itself to meeting the special needs of its new community (and the needs of the Northern New Jersey area in general).” When the Fox-owned television station shut down its entire New Jersey-based news operation in 2013, some employees were laid off and others joined the company’s Fox 5 affiliate, WNYW-TV, in New York City.

A local newscast was replaced by a TMZ-type news show, “Chasing New Jersey.” The show is now called “Chasing News.”

“Licensing the public’s airwaves comes with an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Booker said. “Northern New Jersey has long-deserved local news coverage that meets its need to be informed on issues of public importance. And since democracy requires an informed citizenry, substantive local new coverage can’t be treated as merely optional.

"This legislation creates a pathway for the type of public disclosures and community consultation that will ensure licensees comply with their obligations, now and in the future.”

Menendez and Booker said that WWOR-TV now provides just three hours of weekly news programming, compared to an average of 56 hours by comparable broadcast stations in the overlapping New York City and Philadelphia media markets.

Under the proposed legislation,, the licensee holders would be required to:

Broadcast at least 14 hours weekly of localized programming during primetime hours.

File with the FCC a quarterly disclosure of all local programming including a separate list of particularized local content.

Consult with local leaders in the market served by the station.

The legislation would also require the FCC to issue rules to make it easier for the public to participate in the license renewal process.

Last year, Menendez and Booker urged the FCC to consider WWOR-TV’s failure to abide by its legal obligations to serve the state’s residents. After the license renewal, the senators requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine the process by which the FCC renews broadcast television licenses.