[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5683 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]


        H.R.5683

                       One Hundred Ninth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the third day of January, two thousand and six


                                 An Act


 
To preserve the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California, 
by providing for the immediate acquisition of the memorial by the United 
                                 States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial has proudly stood 
    overlooking San Diego, California, for over 52 years as a tribute 
    to the members of the United States Armed Forces who sacrificed 
    their lives in the defense of the United States.
        (2) The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial was dedicated on April 
    18, 1954, as ``a lasting memorial to the dead of the First and 
    Second World Wars and the Korean conflict'' and now serves as a 
    memorial to American veterans of all wars, including the War on 
    Terrorism.
        (3) The United States has a long history and tradition of 
    memorializing members of the Armed Forces who die in battle with a 
    cross or other religious emblem of their faith, and a memorial 
    cross is fully integrated as the centerpiece of the multi-faceted 
    Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial that is replete with secular symbols.
        (4) The patriotic and inspirational symbolism of the Mt. 
    Soledad Veterans Memorial provides solace to the families and 
    comrades of the veterans it memorializes.
        (5) The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial has been recognized by 
    Congress as a National Veterans Memorial and is considered a 
    historically significant national memorial.
        (6) 76 percent of the voters of San Diego supported donating 
    the Mt. Soledad Memorial to the Federal Government only to have a 
    superior court judge of the State of California invalidate that 
    election.
        (7) The City of San Diego has diligently pursued every possible 
    legal recourse in order to preserve the Mt. Soledad Veterans 
    Memorial in its entirety for persons who have served in the Armed 
    Forces and those persons who will serve and sacrifice in the 
    future.

SEC. 2. ACQUISITION OF MT. SOLEDAD VETERANS MEMORIAL, SAN DIEGO, 
              CALIFORNIA.

    (a) Acquisition.--To effectuate the purpose of section 116 of 
division E of Public Law 108-447 (118 Stat. 3346; 16 U.S.C. 431 note), 
which, in order to preserve a historically significant war memorial, 
designated the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California, 
as a national memorial honoring veterans of the United States Armed 
Forces, there is hereby vested in the United States all right, title, 
and interest in and to, and the right to immediate possession of, the 
Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California, as more fully 
described in subsection (d).
    (b) Compensation.--The United States shall pay just compensation to 
any owner of the property for the property taken pursuant to this 
section, and the full faith and credit of the United States is hereby 
pledged to the payment of any judgment entered against the United 
States with respect to the taking of the property. Payment shall be in 
the amount of the agreed negotiated value of the property or the 
valuation of the property awarded by judgment and shall be made from 
the permanent judgment appropriation established pursuant to section 
1304 of title 31, United States Code. If the parties do not reach a 
negotiated settlement within one year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Defense may initiate a proceeding in a 
court of competent jurisdiction to determine the just compensation with 
respect to the taking of such property.
    (c) Maintenance.--Upon acquisition of the Mt. Soledad Veterans 
Memorial by the United States, the Secretary of Defense shall manage 
the property and shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with 
the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association for the continued maintenance of 
the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial by the Association.
    (d) Legal Description.--The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial referred 
to in this section is all that portion of Pueblo lot 1265 of the Pueblo 
Lands of San Diego in the City and County of San Diego, California, 
according to the map thereof prepared by James Pascoe in 1879, a copy 
of which was filed in the office of the County Recorder of San Diego 
County on November 14, 1921, and is known as miscellaneous map No. 36, 
more particularly described as follows: The area bounded by the back of 
the existing inner sidewalk on top of Mt. Soledad, being also a circle 
with radius of 84 feet, the center of which circle is located as 
follows: Beginning at the Southwesterly corner of such Pueblo Lot 1265, 
such corner being South 17 degrees 14'33" East (Record South 17 degrees 
14'09" East) 607.21 feet distant along the westerly line of such Pueblo 
lot 1265 from the intersection with the North line of La Jolla Scenic 
Drive South as described and dedicated as parcel 2 of City Council 
Resolution No. 216644 adopted August 25, 1976; thence North 39 degrees 
59'24" East 1147.62 feet to the center of such circle. The exact 
boundaries and legal description of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial 
shall be determined by survey prepared by the Secretary of Defense. 
Upon acquisition of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial by the United 
States, the boundaries of the Memorial may not be expanded.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.