Topeka ? Legislation prompted by the 2004 slaying of a social worker in Overland Park will be signed into law this week, officials said.

The bill, which was given final approval by the Kansas Legislature on March 30, is aimed at increasing the safety of social workers.

It requires that starting in 2011, an applicant for a social worker license must complete six hours of social worker safety training awareness.

The Kansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers will join Gov. Mark Parkinson on Thursday for a signing ceremony.

The measure was drawn up in response to the murder of Teri Zenner, 26, in Aug. 17, 2004.

She was visiting a client, Andrew Ellmaker, at his home to make sure he was taking his medication.

He stabbed her in the neck and then cut her with a chain saw. Ellmaker, 17-years-old at the time, was later sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years. Prior to the murder, Ellmaker had been diagnosed with schizotypal, a personality disorder, and had been committed four times to a mental institution.

Zenner was a Kansas University graduate student who worked for the Johnson County Mental Health Center.

Matt Zenner, who had been married to Teri for about three months when she was killed, has been a proponent of the legislation.